Hopes and Dreams and best Wishes, too.

As we prepare to attend my Son's wedding this upcoming weekend, my heart is filled with Hopes and Dreams for them. Every wedding brings out these happy thoughts, but more so when it is the wedding of loved ones.

I began to think about what Hopes and Dreams really mean, and wishes, too.

Dum spiro, spero (Latin) While I breathe, I hope - Latin Proverb

Websters defines them as such:

Dream: to indulge in day-dreams or reveries; give way to visionary thought or speculation.

Hope: To look forward to with desire and more or less confidence. Expect with desire, or desire with expectation. Promise.

Wish: hold dear, desire. Longing.

'Where there's life - there's hope' - Terence

Everyone has Hopes and Dreams. They are tangible, in that you can 'feel' them, 'desire' them, 'wish' for them.

But they are like clouds, or mist or rainbows. You know they are real, but you can't touch them.

We speak of 'having' them or 'losing' them, as in possession or ownership, yet they can't be experienced unless they 'come true'.

We can 'give them up', yet they can't be sold or given away.

'Nothing happens unless first we dream' - Carl Sandburg

But a Dream without action can never come true. A Dream is personal. You cannot Dream for someone else, but you can help someone's Dream come true.  

You 'Follow your Dreams' and 'Keep your Dreams alive'.

'Hope costs nothing' - Sidonie Gabrielle

Dreams need to be grounded in reality, but Hope springs eternal. A Hope is more generous. You can 'give' Hope, offer Hope. Hope is something you release like a prayer.

'Hope is the dream of a soul awake' - French Proverb

Each person has their own unique Hopes and Dreams. They represent a yearning, a seeking.

There are some more noble than others; The Hope of a Nation - The Dreams of a child's future - Dreams of Peace

'Learn from yesterday, live for today, Hope for tomorrow' - Albert Einstein

A Wish is like a Hope - You wish and let it go, leaving it to the universe to decide. Yet a Wish can be 'Granted' by someone else.

We offer 'Best Wishes' to those we love.

There are 'Wishful Thinkers' and 'Hopeless Dreamers'; people not grounded in reality.

'To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe' - Anatole France

'If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours' - Henry David Thoreau

'You see things; and you say, "Why?"

But I dream things that never were;

and I say, "Why not?"

George Bernard Shaw

And so, while we await the Happy Day, our Hearts are filled with Joy and Hopes and Dreams for the Happy Couple. And Best Wishes, too.

Hope that all their Dreams and Wishes come true.

^^^^^^^^

'The Future belongs to those who believe in the Beauty of their Dreams'

Eleanor Roosevelt