Flight of Sandcastles and Day Dreams with A Song in My Heart

I created this collage thinking of the child we all carry within us that lay on sand or green grass staring up into the sky seeking clouds that made pictures of our minds. Bird feathers, sea shells, sand, acrylic, an eternal organic heart out of wood on the left, a sand castle in the middle, flights of fancy fanning out providing a safe place for the child to day dream in.

As I was the only child in the world that had ever done this, I told my mother of all the fantastic pictures I had created out of the clouds, to which my mother replied , "Dear, you were day dreaming. I use to do that when I was your age.". Deeply disappointed, I realized I wasn't the creator of day dreaming after all! The first ego disappointment for the child within.

Daydream. It was love at first sound for me. Daydream. From then on I would create a daydream out of whatever I could until I discovered I could actually create something viable out of a day dream. Sometimes the day dream stayed a day dream, safely residing in a sandcastle built in my mind. Those that became a reality sometimes were better off as a daydream. Others were better than my daydreams; my boys were even more wonderful than my daydream of the children I was going to have, my husband more complicated, loving and less placid than my knight in shining armor day dream. My life messier, richer, more painful and wonderful than I ever could have day dreamed.

My daydreams had the awkward teen stage. They took on a hue of self doubt, fear of rejection, and the doomed landscape of secrecy. I shared them with only a very carefully chosen few and even then experienced some ridicule. They were elevated to new heights of emotions by the songs like; California Dreamin', The Mama's and The Papa's, When a Man Loves a Woman, Percy Sledge, Come Back When You Grow Up, Bobby Vee and The Strangers, Society's Child, Janis Ian, Baby, I Need Your Lovin',Johnny Rivers, Hurt so Bad, Lettermen, (It Looks Like) I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Tom Jones, adding a delicious angst to the boy that got away daydream. All rich fodder for the day dream factory of a teenager of the 60's culminating with my first broken heart, singing to Barbra Streisand singing, "What Now My Love", a hundred times, alone in my father's living room. Music and day dreams went hand in hand were inseperable in my day dream landscape.

At this stage, my day dreams were introduced to poetry and creative writing and in turn took on a whole new level of existence.

My daydreams had the blossoming bridal stage. The daydreamer had fallen in love with love expressed in the man who had won her hand in marriage. Songs like My Love, Paul McCartney and Wings, Danny's Song, Anne Murray and Me and Mrs. Jones, Billy Paul, fed the embers of new love and a bright future.

And so the daydreams became daydreams of their own. Children were born, my daydreams took on an aura of a spiritual quest, art and the enrichment of friendships. And now in my 57th year, I feel nostalgic and grateful that the day dreams of my childhood have become an intricate part of my being and reality. One of my favorite memoirs is Sidney Poitier's, 'The Measure of A Man'. He wrote this about his day dreams, "Daydreams were guaranteed to please. They had it all over facts and reality when it came to getting groundwork done and foundations laid. However, daydreams were burdened with what in years to come would be revealed as their major weaknesses. Every ounce of the hard, grueling, exhaustive work necessary in the conversion from promises made to dreams fulfilled was the sole responsibility of the dreamer."

I still day dream. I will always daydream. In creating my collage which inspired me to write this blog made me realize how important music, art and memory is for me. Their engagement pour emotions that found their way into my daydreams whether writing, creating art or having heart to heart conversations. I thank the Ultimate Creator for all the artists, writers and musicians that have enriched our lives to new heights of the daydreaming experience!