What did you dream of growing up?

When I was little, a dream was simple — getting a gift from Santa, a big dream was actually getting to visit Disney one day.

My boys have had dreams growing up — making sports teams and winning games (or championships), getting a role in the school play (or getting the lead!).

My youngest is looking at schools he wants to continue his education at and put a dream school on the board. As a kid on the spectrum, he can get overly focused on a want and when the results don’t match, it can be emotionally devastating. I’ve seen this first hand – when he didn’t get the part he wanted in a play, or a trip got canceled – he had a hard time coming to terms with his dream (hope/desire/want) not happening. Knowing this, my husband and I tried to get him in the right mental state regardless of the school’s decision. “You can start somewhere else and transfer in two years,” or “You can try to get in to get your masters,” as his field of study will likely require a masters. We wanted him to know, it wasn’t the end of the world (or his dream) if he got turned down. Still we braced ourselves.

Our son let us know he’d heard from the school and they’d made a decision. We agreed he’d find out the outcome when he got home later that day. He said he was terrified and not expecting to get accepted. I tried to stay even keeled—not saying anything until he opened the letter.

It was painful. Log in, click on status, click on decision made, click on decision made icon second time to finally get to the answer…Congratulations, we have reviewed your application and look forward to you joining us… My son still cried, but tears of joy. “I got it! I got in! I can’t believe it!” I’ve seen him react this way once before when he finally got the hang of riding his bike and was able to pedal unaccompanied across a church parking lot. In that instance, it was tears and shouting at the top of his lungs — I did it! I did it! In both cases it brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. I’m happy for my son, but the tears came from recognizing how rare it is that you experience someone achieving their dream. Mind you he still has the hard work to do ahead of him, but for this fleeting moment, everything felt magical.

What dream coming true have you witnessed?