After I read the book “The Dream Manager”, besides considering how I might incorporate some of the concepts in my business with my employees, I also realized that I was at risk of not living or reaching some of my own dreams. My wife, Laura, also read the book and we both started dream journals and scribbled down about 60 dreams that we had, in many different categories including spiritual, adventure, financial, legacy, physical, hobby, etc. One of mine that I had talked about with a good buddy, who is also a pilot, for about 20 years, was flying our planes across the country. I’ve put it off for years because it was about a 2 week trip and would be too big a burden on my family to be gone that long. Well, one of my wife’s was to spend 2 weeks with her elderly grandmother, who at the time was 94 years old and living in Buffalo. My wife grew up in California and only ever spent about a week a summer in Buffalo with her grandmother growing up and really enjoyed her time but it would be over too soon.

We decided to combine our dreams the following summer and I would take one child (we have 4) with me on my plane to Buffalo, and she would take the other 3 with her. We would meet up in Buffalo in 4-5 days, then I would spend about 4 days there, and start my trek home with another child. I took my 8 year old daughter, Maddie (now 12), with me and we stopped in Santa Fe, NM, Austin, TX, and Nashville, TN on the way to Buffalo. Each leg was only about 2-3 hours so it was very comfortable. She loved Nashville the best!

After 4 days in Buffalo, I took my son, Mitch, who was 13 at the time and now 17, to Philly, Chicago, and Denver, before heading home. At each stop, we had some great adventures and created some incredible memories. That next spring, my wife’s grandma, Molly, passed away and my wife was so thankful she had the opportunity to spend some quality time with this amazing lady.

We just moved about 6 months ago and realized that we had packed away our dream journals. Even though we had great results from realizing one of our big dreams, we stopped reviewing our journals and fell into the trap of forgetting to think about our dreams. Life took over once again! I just pulled mine out this weekend on a quick trip to Palm Springs and one of my commitments was to read it each week! FAILED on that one!

My wife and I decided to dust off the journals and go through them again, updating them for our new dreams. We’re committed, once again (hopefully!!) to staying on track and move forward to live our dreams.

I highly suggest reading The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly. You might find it changes your life, at least in the short term, and helps you create your own bucket list.

Good luck!

Email Rod McDermott
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