Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCXXXIX

The noise in the stadium was deafening as thousands of fans were chanting my name after I had just scored the winning touchdown, giving our championship team a perfect season. I guess you could call that a "virtual" event since in actuality it didn't really happen. The only place that event ever occurred was inside of my own imagination. That's just one of the places that my ten year old mind took me. The next day I was elected President of the United States, marking the first time in history that a world renowned rock star had achieved that honor. The neat thing about it was that, even with all of the wealth I had accumulated and the fame that had found its way to my door, I remained the same good old down-home boy that I had always been, staying in close contact with all of my good friends back home.

Surely I'm not the only kid who ever had those kinds of dreams, am I? I feel quite certain that practically every person reading this article right now can identify with what I'm talking about. But then reality sets in and we come back down to earth to the realization that fame and stardom have evaded us as we settle into our lives that are pretty much the same as everyone else around us. Then, however, the dream re-emerges, only this time it is for our kids instead of us. Maybe this is just a never ending cycle, and I don't have a problem with it as long as it just remains a dream. Dreams are what lead people to bigger and better things. The more I think about it though, the more I'm convinced that we're better off when the dreams of becoming a major celebrity remain just that--a dream.

Both of my kids are grown and married now, and I'm happy with the way both of them turned out. I'm thankful every day that I'm not the father of a Brittney Spears or a Lindsay Lohan. I'll take my kids just the way they are. I just finished reading an autobiography of Ronald Reagan, a poor kid from Dixon, Illinois, who achieved the goals of becoming a movie star and President of the United States. He said that although he did enjoy being President, he sometimes felt like he was trapped inside a prison called the White House. After he had reached the place in life where he no doubt had the most recognized face in the world, he dreamed of just being a normal guy so that he could walk into a drug store and buy his wife a Valentine card without attracting large throngs of people, some of whom wanted to do him harm. One day he decided he would do just that, and he told his staff that he was going to a small gift shop near the White House to buy Nancy a card. He said it created such a stir, and so much preliminary work had to be done by the Secret Service, that he decided that he would never put another merchant through that kind of trouble again.

So I guess you could say that I've had some unfulfilled dreams, but I'm reminded of a song by Garth Brooks that says, "I'm thankful for unanswered prayers." Actually, when I stop to think about it, maybe I achieved my dreams after all, because I'm as much of a star right now as I ever hope to be. My kids are stars as well when we consider the fact that they are idolized by the people who really matter. I'll never see my name in lights or hear thousands of adoring fans chanting my name in unison. I'm glad. This is just the way I want it.

Preston