At last, my dream has come along....

                                                      Hold fast to dreams,
                                                        For if dreams die
                                              Life is a broken-winged bird,
                                                        That cannot fly.”
                                                                               ― Langston Hughes

 

My dream is about to be realized in the next three days, God willing, and holding fast is precisely what I've been doing for over five decades now.  And- I am literally and figuratively ready to fly.  My wings are fluttering.

 

Please join me as I embark on the final leg of my fifty-year quest to step foot on all seven continents of this beautiful, spacious, vast planet Earth by finally crossing off the last of them: Australia. 

 

To those of you who know me well who have heard this part of the story a gazillion times already over and over again- I see you there rolling your eyes. My apologies. You can go ahead and skip this next part if you wish! (=

 

For any relative newcomers in my life who might not already know the background behind my global wanderlust, here it is: the short version.

 

Back when I was around six years old, I remember studying my first globe in grade school and being absolutely fascinated with the names of all the countries, oceans and continents.  At one point, I imagined and fancied myself as such a child of this newly-expanding world, I started telling my classmates in first grade that I was from Ethiopia since it sounded so exotic and faraway.  Apparently my teacher mentioned it to my folks, and it was just another 'silly Johnny' quirk/oddity that I was famous for as a kid. I wanted to be globe trotter.

 

I distinctly remember at that tender age making a goal to someday step foot on all seven continents by the time I was 60 years old. Back then that seemed absolutely ancient, and I imagined myself as a white-haired, old Mr. Magoo-like character with a cane tottering around on his last legs.  But I also thought it would be the most extraordinary feat. As a wild-eyed and curious boy of the 1950's when jet airplanes were bringing people and countries together at a rapid rate, I made a promise to myself that I would actually do it... and not just dream it.  I wanted to make the seemingly-impossible possible.  And for as long as I have lived, one step and one decade at a time, this has been my destination- to someday reach this finish line. This journey will be my childhood dream coming true.

 

During the many decades that have followed, my dream has stayed alive, and I have held fast!  I've made many, many trips around the world, back and forth across all of the four oceans and the Equator three times, with stops including: most of Western Europe, Northern Africa and lots of Asia, including Morocco, Greece, Israel, Egypt, India, Nepal, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Thailand and Ireland (I won a free trip there in a photography contest) as well as seeing a great portion of North America.  In 2010, I traveled to South America through Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Brazil.  Finally, in 2011, I was fortunate enough to go south of the border to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina and then to cruise and step foot on Antarctica for probably the most mind-blowing one of all.   

 

I am ever-so-keenly aware that with dreams come blessings.  I am so grateful and blessed to still be alive at the age of 60 - the very year I set as my "deadline year" so long ago.  I thank my parents for strong, healthy, Irish, longevity genes (knock on wood). I thank them for their devotion to me for raising me to believe that dreams can *and will* come true if you chase them. It causes me to reflect back upon all good (scratch that- INCREDIBLE) luck and generous help from my guardian angels that helped me survive all of life's possible calamities that I've encountered: the chaotic and deadly intersections I've crossed here at home and abroad, the hundreds of thousands of miles driving in a car with drunk drivers, bad drivers and texters at the wheel, the hemispheres I have traversed in flight at 35,000 feet in turbulence and lightning, a lifetime living in a dangerous world of bacteria, criminals, accidents, broken mirrors, close-calls, bad eating habits, too many cigarettes and gallons of alcohol over time, assorted accidents and life-threatening injuries that I have either endured, avoided, escaped or been fortunate to fight off. This final step is a blessing for which I am feeling profoundly grateful as this trip nears. I am still alive!

 

This adventure to Australia represents the completion of a mission. It is me feeling ever-so-fortunate to be that (not-so-Mr. Magoo) 60 year-old man connecting again with that adventurous, freckle-faced boy, still holding fast to his hand, reaching back in time and telling him that the promise is nearly complete. I never let go.

The amazing dream I visualized as six year old of a giant me leaping from land mass to land mass playing hop-scotch across the continents avoiding the blue-green oceans of the globe without getting my feet wet and counting them off one-by-one until I got to *Lucky Number Seven* is now at my doorstep.

Ray Charles said, "Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy."  Come fly away with me on this crazy, outrageous, boyhood fantasy across the Pacific "down under" to Australia as I follow my dream!