Legacy of the Future (Ted Richard-Church Point, LA)

One day, a very large owl appeared in my dream.

Its rainbow colored feathers showed

Only the wealth of wisdom that had been

Amassed throughout its lifetime.

And then it spoke to me

“Legacy of the Future”

And then flew away.

 It’s strange to me how a dream can be

So distant yet so relative,

So blurry, yet so vivid;

So imaginative, yet so real.

I spent many of the next years

Wandering and wondering.

Wandering through my childhood,

Wondering where life would take me.

Wandering through my adolescence,

Wondering which path to choose.

And wandering in my young adulthood

Wondering if the choices I made would ever mean something.

And then I remembered the dream.

“Legacy of the Future”

And I knew exactly what the owl meant.

From that day forward,

Each day I dwell on each moment

As a way to become the person I envision myself to be:

Honest, Strong and Proud.

I am honest about my successes and honest about my failures.

My failures become opportunities, and leads to more focused direction.

I am strong in my beliefs and strong in my opinion,

But I have learned to not let my opinion stand in the way of the truth.

Most of all, I am proud.

I am proud of the man that I have become and

Proud of the man that I still becoming.

I acknowledge my faults and challenge myself daily

To be better each day than the day before.

Because people are depending on me.

No longer am I a young child with a vivid imagination.

I am now a young man with hopes and aspirations

And dreams that I can take into reality.

I live each day hoping that, in some way

I have nurtured and mentored someone to become someone

Better than they thought they could be.

I live each day aspiring to be the friend a friend wants,

And the friend a friend needs.

And I live each day dreaming

That I can spend the rest of my life

Wandering and wondering !!

Wandering through the imagination of my newborn child’s mind, and

Wondering when she’ll have this same dream.