Your pebble is your dream. And your dream is the center of the universe. Really. Now you and your dream are at the center of all we know.
Why is this?
Because astronomers have found that the universe is expanding in all directions. From wherever you stand. You are at the center. You are the center. And so is the dream you have, the one you carry around. It’s the way most dreams live. Tucked away for a more important time.
I never thought I would learn to fly. It was for someone else. Someone smarter. Someone braver. Someone who could ‘get’ quickly all the things you need to do and learn to become a bird. But if not for me, why did I dream about it, at night and for the first four decades of my life?
It was one of the pebbles I kept in my pocket. In the center of the universe of my heart.
There is a passage by Robert Frost, in the “Road Not Taken”, that is often misinterpreted:
“…Two roads diverged in a yellow wood… and I, I took the road less traveled by. And that made all the difference.”
It is not about a road being so different from the other. It is about choosing. The point is, the hiker was aware of choosing and in doing so, showed the courage needed to take action. To see where the choice lead. Take one. Which? Take the one that inspires you.
Make the decision to decide. Take action. That will make all the difference. Make your time at the center of your life remarkable. Live to go forward. Then tell the tale of it.
The road may be difficult. It will bring tears of joy and of outrageous hilarity. It will be scary—with dragons to fight from within and from without. You will think it is better to quit. You will find the reason you will not. But it will be a road that will make a world of difference, because you will never be the same again.
Soon to come, my stories on how I began learning to fly, in my forties.
Where do dreams take us?
Just imagine.
I had two dreams growing up: to be a pilot. To be an astronaut.
Okay, so at forty-something, I was a PASS by NASA. I hadn’t trained up until then and they didn’t want me to apply that late in life. I learned to fly.
Over the course of getting a handful of pilot licenses, I learned more than flying. From flying, I learned who I was. How I solved tough problems alone, who my friends really were, what kind of parent I was and lots more.
And, in many ways, I am going to space… in many ways.
Here is one of them. I am at Made In Space, at Moffett Field, in Mountain View, California. Made In Space has developed the Zero-Gravity 3D Printer in use by the International Space Station. Made In Space called for ideas on items that will be among the first to be made – in space. I invented ‘Space Games’ and that was the idea they liked. It gets better: robotics students from local schools will contribute their designs to Space Games. I have developed an in-road to get the next generation inspired about their future – and some have a passion for space too. Space Games will be generated by the ISS astronauts on the 3D Printer in early 2016.
In the blog posts to come, I will give more details on what’s going on with getting a crew to Mars and back.
No, I’m not going to Mars.
But how great is it to help get it done!
Another dream.