Dreams do come true

Talking with my colleagues during lunch today made me realise how fortunate I am.

They see me as living the life I want, chasing my dreams.

Seeing it from their perspective, my eyes were opened.

I've found my Grand Passion. I am living the life I want (to a certain extent), and living my dreams in full blooming technicolour.

Misja said I was lucky to have discovered something I'm so passionate about. He said that many people spend their lives searching, sometimes never finding it. He hasn't.

Come to think of it, I wasn't so crazy about it until this current partner. He has literally brought the stars down from the sky for me.

Before him, I had some nebulous dream about winning Blackpool. The passing of the years has shown that this will never happen.

With him has come realistic, achievable (SMART!) goals. Suddenly, I'm staring at the possibility of the SEA Games in a matter of months. He has swept me along on his desire to be ranked, to pit ourselves against the best in the country, to aim for a reachable star.

We've set short- and medium-term goals for our dancing, made priorities and sacrifices, discussed plans and our projections for the future. And I am blessed because our dreams (he would call it 'goals' or 'objectives', I prefer 'dreams'. Reveals the nature of our personalities, eh?) are very closely aligned.

I still want to dance at the Empress Ballroom during the UK Open championships, but the operative verb is 'dance', not 'win'. Simply to compete on that historical floor against couples from around the world will be enough for me.

But working with someone who shares the same goals/dreams is fantastic. Meeting up four to five times a week and slogging it out on the floor, ironing out the kinks, breaking down our routines, setting training schedules, repeating our steps till we can do it in our sleep... all the while moving toward the goal which seems ever more achievable... it's a great feeling.

I love dance. I have fun doing it. I could do it all day and all night and still ask for more.

But he has unwittingly channeled the enjoyment, fun and desire into a tangible, result-oriented activity.

And I'm loving it all the more because of this.

I didn't even realise it till today's casual lunchtime chat with my dear old colleagues, who I can always rely on to be honest and straightforward with their thoughts.

In this goal-setting respect, he's an even better partner for me than I ever imagined. I dance because I want to. He dances because he wants to be the best.

And laidback person that I am, that's fine by me!

He's given me a goal, a reachable star. I'm living my dreams. I hope it never ends.