Does The Siren Call To You?

I talk about dreams a lot because I think hope and dreams are what keep us going. As I lay here watching tv something was said about the statue of Liberty and how she has become the symbol for those from other countries that had a dream of finding a new land, a new home.  My ancestors packed up what few things they had and boarded old ships and traveled for weeks and weeks to get to this country, the whole time dreaming of a new life and a better life. They did not have their own  room but lived in open quarters with a space and no privacy. The journey was hard and one of my ancestors lost children coming across. I just can not imagine the pain they went through and yet they were following their dream.

image from paramore-thethingsilove.blogspot.com

I look at this statue, which was erected in 1886 and I can see my great-grandmother when we was five looking at this statue as the boat pulled into land. I can feel their excitement and awe and understand a little better how they came to view the Statue of Liberty to mean so much. She was a beacon of hope to them….hope that the home they wanted or the jobs they wanted would be there when they got here. I remember that feeling when we decided to come out here and our dream was so strong that we believed the job would be here when we got here and it was. It does not always turn out that way and there are detours but we were willing to chance it.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus, 1883

The Statue of LIberty is another bucket list thing for me because so many of my ancestor’s first view of this country was of her. They felt as if she were their angel beckoning them to the land. The Siren has called to us all down through the ages….some of us follow her and some of us just sit and wish. I learned one thing through our journey so far….that if I want the dream to have a chance to become a reality, I must work for it and go for it. Will it turn out exactly like I think it will?  No, but it still can turn out really good. I also realized just exactly what I was willing to give up to have this dream. When you know that, you know if it is just a “daydream” or a dream of the heart you really want.

Follow Your Dreams, The Siren Called Out To Me

As I closed my eyes and fell deep into lovely sleep.
The dream siren called me with a promise to keep

I closed my eyes and looked deep in my soul
I could feel the wind blowing…it was so very cold

My dreams I had carried through year after year
They will never come true was my biggest fear

Wandering up one lane and down another
Remembering my dream since I became a mother

Land, open land and a place to be free
A small house to live in with a big evergreen tree

We mounted the buckboard with all we owned inside
And started over the mountain on this crazy dream ride

We felt like pioneers racing to the finish line for land
And the whole time we knew -The Lord had our hand

So don’t be afraid to dream your dreams and try
Life is too short…open your wings up and fly

Dream I say and work the dream hard as you can
For it will be the best race that you ever ran.

© danLrene 2012