Monday, January 4, 2010

A True Winner

I was racking my brain trying to come up with something to write about today. This isn't really about something suspenseful but I dreamed about it last night.

I'm not sure why I dreamed about this but years ago I had a student who had a disease that made him look like a little (about four feet tall with short legs) old man when he was sixteen. I knew his life expectancy wasn't long and he had lots of health problems. But he was such an inspiration to me and everyone around him.

One year at the state games for Special Olympics in Oklahoma (I was a coach for 18 years), he was determined to do the 400 meter walk although it was hot and humid. He didn't sweat so being in hot weather was hard for him. When his event was called, he went to the starting line and began his trek. Not a third a way around the track, he began to have trouble because of the heat and not being able to sweat. A volunteer walked with him, keeping cold cloths on his head and neck. He had to rest periodically, but he was determined to finish the race. He did a long time after everyone else, and when he walked across the finish line, he walked across to a standing ovation. He showed the crowd at the stadium what a true winner was that day. He proudly displayed his ribbon the rest of the time we were there. Every competitor got a place ribbon depending on where they came in. It didn't bother him that he was last. He finished the race. That was his dream and goal.

What was unusual about the dream was that I was on Letterman (by accident and that's a whole different blog) and ended up telling this story. Don't ask me why. I don't know. But the dream was so clear that I remembered it vividly this morning.

What unusual dream have you had?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful post. I used to volunteer with the rescue squad in my home town for the Special Olympics. Those guys work really hard and are so special. They never give up.
tarenn98[at]yahoo[dot]com

Margaret Daley said...

I know, April. I always enjoyed working with Special Olympics.

Vince said...

Hi Margaret:

Did you see a Letterman show when he talked about the death of Eunice Kennedy Shriver -- the founder of the Special Olympics?

Recently I had a dream where I saw a Love Inspired book on display at a bookstore and it had a picture of the new Yankee Stadium on the cover. My sister-in-law gave me a big poster of the new stadium recently that’s in my office so this probably triggered the memory.

My strangest dreams are when all I ‘see’ are words scrolling by and I have to ‘read’ the dream. This happens every so often and I’m not sure but I don’t think there are any misspelling – so I’m sure I didn’t write them myself. I’ve never met anyone else who had to read their dreams.

Vince

Margaret Daley said...

Vince, I've never read my dreams that I can remember. No, I didn't see the Letterman show. I don't even watch him which made the dream strange for me.