Everyone has a dream or two. Usually, they are tied to an innate gift or a passion. Dreams like these are – I believe – God-given and while they take a lot of hard work to achieve, they bear the sweetest, richest fruit. Other dreams are born out of wounds. If someone had a painful or tragic childhood, they may want to create the picture perfect family where there is rarely a harsh word or any sort of conflict, where safety and protection border on obsession.
On the other hand, the child who grows up in the seemingly picture perfect family, may become so annoyed by the lack of authenticity and the fear of the world that seemed to rule the home, they may head so far out in an entirely different direction that other issues may arise.
In Sunrise on the Battery, Mary Lynn has a deep wound from childhood. Born illegitimately and taunted by the gossipy small town society she grew up in, she longs for acceptance and a sense of belonging. For this reason, she sets out to create a new life for herself and her family in Charleston, South Carolina. With a handsome, bright husband and newfound wealth, they work for a decade to carefully climb their way up Charleston’s tricky social ladder. Just when they are about to reach the pinnacle, Mary Lynn’s husband commits social suicide and she has to decide whether or not she will go with him or cling to her wound-born dream.
So here’s the question of the week: “Have You Ever Had to Choose Between Your Dream and A Loved One?”
Right about now the tune “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon is loading in my head. “I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee….” And we all know the cliché I felt that I witnessed in nearly every fourth marriage during my childhood years: Wife works some job she doesn’t enjoy to put husband through law school or medical school, comes home to start family after he graduates, then learns that he is taking off with some young gal from the workplace, leaving her alone and wondering who in the world she is and what in the world her dreams were in the first place.
But we all know of beautiful sacrifices and wonderfully altered dreams like the one Lisa reminded us of yesterday: we put our careers on hold to cherish that fleeting time with our young children, we rearrange our lives for an aging parent or a special needs child who needs medical care in a another town, we put aside our desire for that bigger house and that new car because we feel called to the mission field or some other kind of outreach that will do much for our hearts but little for our present day comforts not to mention our retirement coffers. Right now my writing is taking a bit of a back seat to other more pressing stuff: namely child rearing and an ill parent. I still get the writing in, but it’s not my priority of the day and I seem to be totally fine with that. It feels right for this season. And I am thankful.
May we all get to that place where we are not doormats, but rather real women with communal as well as individual dreams who can talk honestly with our families about where we hope to go while at the same time being willing to prioritize and sacrifice for one another.
Love. It’s the greatest of life experiences. And if every family member possesses it, how fulfilled we all will be, how many dreams will become a reality!
For more information on Beth Webb Hart’s novels click here
