Simple plan

Dream big dreams

I recently dismantled the go-cart my son Rhett and I built a couple of years ago. The go-cart was made of wood and screws and put in motion by large coaster wheels and plenty of legwork.

As I tossed it into the trash I couldn’t help but think of the Saturday we built the thing. We woke early, scrambled to a store for supplies and scavenged through a scrap pile for materials. Within hours we were ready to roll.

Just as we were about to take our first spin, Rhett asked sincerely, “Am I dreaming?”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because this is the best day of my life.”

I pulled Rhett close, draped my arm around him and said, “You aren’t dreaming, kid. This is for real.”

As I threw the last piece of Rhett’s dream into the garbage can the other day, I got sentimental — not for the go-cart, but for my son’s dream that has come and gone.

He’ll probably never dream of building a wooden go-cart with me again. But that won’t stop me from fostering other dreams he has. Matter of fact, last night he told me he wants to build a hovercraft. I’m not exactly sure how we’re going to pull that off, but I’ll cultivate his dream until he achieves or abandons it.

That’s one of the great aspects of parenting. We not only get to encourage our children to dream big dreams, we get the privilege of helping them achieve such things.

Kirk Noonan

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