This week’s track by The Byrds felt like a natural progression after last week’s “Living Mirage”. The implication that in seeking “Renaissance Fair” one is to step into a different world, maybe that of dreams, suits the feeling I remember in attending The Texas Renaissance Fair as a kid. And, as I move into further adulthood, understanding the escape of holding onto those moments that feel otherworldly does not pass lightly.

It may have been a rough week at the Corporate gig for me that inspired an understanding of just how much I interact with the notion of dreaming. Not always about being somewhere else, but in learning how to make the places that I do frequent better. Maybe more enjoyable. Maybe more intentional.

I remember having very vivid and realistic dreams at certain points in my life. Sometimes they were rooted in fear and change. Sometimes I had a hard time placing or interpreting any meaning from them. As I recently stopped in my local bookstore, I recognize just how many books have been published on the subject of interpreting one’s dreams. Anywhere from dreams of falling, losing teeth (thankfully not my specific brand of dreaming) or constantly moving to find something or someone can be, according to these sources, traced to specific happenings in our lives. Or maybe it was the Chicken Parm you had for dinner. To each their own.

But really, outside of dreams while we sleep, I have contemplated plenty of dreams while I lay awake; how to make the most out of the talent I have been given, how to cultivate relationships with people who will uplift and make me stronger, how to best invest my time in seeking goals for myself and how to best invest the resources I have earned in my life.

When I spent my trips to Todd Mission, Texas as a child, I would step into a new world, filled with dragons and fairies, knights in armor, talking artisan skeletons (Hello Ded Bob), glass blowers and wax hand sculptures. I very much wanted to possess a sword, and ended up getting a wooden pirate cutout sword one year. It was not the metal counterpart that I saw for sale in the armories of folks really cosplaying their hearts out, but for those of you raised in a time where foam swords are all the rage, I assure you that this was indeed a step more dangerous in the wrong hands. Nothing blatantly sharp, but it could pack a wallop if ill intended in it’s use.

I honestly had stored the pirate dream away for quite awhile, or maybe it faded over time. I moved onto things that were more realistic, or aged into opportunities that more naturally used the skills I spent the time to develop. I have steered a sailboat on smooth water, but couldn’t really tell you that I am a skilled captain. I guess that in that way, I have more tried to find ways to rise to the occasions of life as they present themselves. And in that way, maybe every day is like chasing a dream. Sometimes through setting lofty or realistic goals and meeting expectations for ourselves. And that doesn’t always feel like a pat on the back, or get the recognition that we might have hoped. But sometimes that is what chasing dreams looks like for me too.

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A big thanks is due this week to friend of the blog, Arthur C., who captured this photo at The Texas Renaissance Festival (though, I always called it “Ren Fest”) this year. I had reservations about trying to bring a relic boombox from none of the centuries that far back nor of the present to the gates of the Festival. Arthur’s initiative helped score the shot and I am grateful. Maybe it’ll earn you a turkey leg, sir.

For more info on the dates that the festival is open, check out their web presence (here). They have ticket info, hours of operation and driving directions on how to reach the festival grounds.