Are You a Dream Cheerleader?

Mandi had a great post yesterday about dreams not coming true when looking at it from our perspective, yet still living the dream since we aren't the ones in control. If you didn't get a chance, you should really check out the post, it's a good one!

It got me thinking back to my childhood, my dreams, and how my parents fostered that "dream for the stars" mentality in me.

If I were to hone in on one point for this blog however, it would be this - Parents, you should be the biggest cheerleader ever in the dreams department.

It's funny, when I was young (confession time), I wanted to be a lung specialist. I mean, it makes sense right? I was around hospitals all of the time. I could handle all of the jargon that was thrown around. Blood and guts have never bothered me. I was always talking with pulmonologists. And of course, I was for sure going to cure CF one day :)

Now, my dream occupations changed from time to time, but I would generally always land back on being a doctor. In my younger years, I was very vocal about this dream.

It's important to point out that this was also a time in which they were figuring out that we CFers really shouldn't be around each other. It was also a time in which very few CFers attended college, and of those that did, very few graduated. CFers who actually were doctors? Well that was obviously few and far between.

I didn't care though. I was going to be different. I was going to buck the trend and be the first CF specialist with CF that exclusively worked with CF patients. Knowing the time and the situation, you would have thought that my mom would have been "the bearer of bad news" or in the very least realistic with me. Nope, she wasn't. She was my cheerleader, just as it should be.

Growing up, my mom never uttered the words "Ronnie you can't" when it came to my dreams for a future. Talk of college, career, marriage and babies were had on the regular in my house. It was never if those things were going to happen, but when.

Did my mom actually think that I was going to be able to fulfill all of my dreams? Who knows. Better yet, who cares?!?! The important thing is that she raised me to be a believer. A believer in hard work, commitment and personal responsibility. She raised me to chase my dreams in-spite of CF. She raised me to chase me dreams because of CF. My mom convinced me at a very young age that my formula for making my dreams come true was the same formula that my friends used. Surprise! CF had nothing to do with it.

So, did I become a doctor? Not even close. But do I appreciate my mom for knowing that I could have been one if I would have chosen to pursue that path? Absolutely.

You see, our children are no more worse for the wear if you encourage them to chase their dreams and they still fall short or choose another direction. It's more important to us that you believed in our dream as much as we did. We don't need everything to fall into place exactly as planned to be "living the dream".

We do however need a dream, and we need a dream cheerleader. Are you up for the job?

Then grab some pom-poms and let's get to work!!

Who Wants to Dream With Us???

Today is the day that Ronnie and I have dreamed about for what feels like forever. We have dreamed big and it feels so incredible to see our dream coming true. I could not be happier or more excited than I am today, to see where else our dreams will lead us. What am I talking about you ask? Let me back up and give you the full story so you can join in on our dream.

As most of you know, Ronnie and I have worked together for the last 10 months. In April of last year, Ronnie was asked by an incredible couple, the Gettels, to create a web site for the CF community. The charge was undefined, but the possibilities lit a fire under Ronnie unlike anything I have ever seen. His love for the CF community and his desire to support and encourage them fueled his imagination. Our life became one huge brainstorming session. This dream became a reality with the formation of an organization called CysticLife. And we were well on our way after assembling a dream team that consisted of Ronnie, two brilliant web developers, and his beloved (this would be me, Jezzabel prefers unemployment) to write, design and spread the word.

To us, CysticLife (CL) has become a dream not only for an organization, but for a community. CysticLife isn't just a new organization; to us, it's a new movement. We want CysticLife to be a place where people can come when they're down to be picked up, and a place to share your accomplishments when you're riding high. It will be a place to gain knowledge from your peers who have lived it and get it. CL is about becoming comfortable with who you are and what CF means in your life. It is about transforming the CF community into being their own cure. We want to give people the skills to manage their CF and take care of themselves. We want people to go through life with a smile on their face, a can-do attitude and the confidence to take on whatever challenges might come their way.

We have taken our first steps to making our dreams come true. Today, we launched CysticLife.org, a social network (like facebook) made specifically for the CF community. On CysticLife.org people can post blogs, ask questions, maintain a profile, contact others, and search members by age, location and relation to CF. This is going to be an incredible resource, and the best thing is...this is only the beginning.

We are super excited about this site and would love for you to check it out, and hopefully share in our excitement. We truly love and value each of you and your opinions. You never hold back on RSR when it comes to sharing what you think, so we're hoping you do the same for CysticLife.org. We know if you think it's terrible, you'll tell us like it is, and that if you think it's great, you'll join in our on dream. We're really shooting for the latter ;-) !!!

Oh yeah...in my excitement I forgot to give you the link. Here you go: www.CysticLife.org