Jamison for President

When we were kids, the world was at our feet. People asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up and the possibilities seemed endless- doctor, lawyer, professional athlete, musician, marine biologist, fighter pilot, or maybe even the President of the United States. The prospects excited us. It didn’t matter how we planned to get from point A to point B because society told us that we could be anything we wanted to be, as if desire was the only factor. But as we grew older the waters of that endless ocean of possibilities started to recede and we found ourselves standing in the shallow tide pools. Cold, hard reality hit us in the face. We didn’t have the grades to get into law school or the money to pay for medical school, we didn’t have the physical build to be an athlete or the bone structure to be a movie star, we didn’t have the eyesight to be a pilot, and we definitely didn’t have the affiliations to be President. Clearly, it was all a lie. We could not be anything we wanted to be.

As adults, we were forced to face this new truth- some of us embraced it sooner than others- and eventually we learned to accept it. We stopped pretending to be superheroes and princesses and we strove for the less glamorous but more attainable lifestyles. We found contentment and happiness in just being ordinary us.

Adulthood may have taught us to live in the real world……but parenthood allows us to believe in the dream world once again.

This was my favorite part of taking the kids to the NAS Oceana Air Show last weekend. For the most part our Saturday was a giant disappointment. Rainy weather forced the air show officials to cancel the flights so we walked around for a couple hours, sharing two partially bent and broken umbrellas, and admired a few grounded planes and ate some greasy, overpriced concession food. We didn’t stay long before giving up and going home.

The only thing that made the event worthwhile was watching Jamie. He ran from one plane to another, leaving the rest of us behind to catch up.

He wanted to sit in the pilot’s seat of each and every helicopter.

 He chattered on and on and on without barely pausing for breath. Most of it was completely unintelligible but it was clear that he wanted to fly to “da moo’ (moon)!” He was eager to climb inside an astronaut’s suit and pose for a picture.

His face was glowing so brightly and his mind was filled with belief- that childhood belief that anything is possible and everything is attainable. Such a beautiful thing. And a powerful thing too. I found myself believing too. While I waited in line with him to tour one of the cockpits and I watched him play with his die cast jet plane wearing his toddler sized flight suit I started envisioning myself, twenty something years from now, attending his flight school graduation ceremony.

I used to laugh at parents who would say that someday their child could be President of the United States. Every parent thinks that their child is going to be the President. Obviously, most of them won’t even come close. But I see now why they all say that. We don’t tell our kids that they can be anything they want to be because we actually believe it’s true. We don’t expect them to achieve the impossible. I sometimes joke about Jamie becoming the star quarterback of a professional football team but I will be just as proud of him if he becomes a plumber or a stay-at-home dad. I want nothing more than for his life to be filled with love for God and from family and friends. The truth is that we tell our kids they can be anything they want to be because we want them to feel the happiness that comes with believing they can.