Unfulfilled Dreams

[Hickory]

Today is the last day of muzzle loading here in Ohio and it has been sort of nasty all day.
This gave me a chance to do a few things around the house that needed done.
So, I'm taking a break and looking out the window thinking, my thoughts wandered back to when I was young, strong and full of dreams, that will never happen or come true.

My biggest dream was to spend a winter in the Rocky Mountains trapping and hunting. Not that I wanted to spend my life doing that, but to say, I did it.

The next thing that I always dreamed of doing was to take a grizzly bear with a handgun. Alaska would be the place for this endeavor.
Dangerous, you bet.
Exciting, beyond compare.
Even more so if it charged after the first shot and I emptied my gun on him while it came at me full bore, and sliding to a stop at my feet on the last shot. But, it's just a dream, an unfulfilled dream. Another one that will never happen.

The last thing I've wanted to do was sail around the world. To visit some of the ports and countries that my neighbor told me of when he was a merchant marine and then the navy.
Jay Hammond was this guy. Full of stories from 1933 to 1946 sailing around the world as a merchant marine until getting torpedoed off the coast of Madagascar, his time in a life boat, getting rescued, joining the Navy. I could retell many of the stories Jay told me, but I won't bore you.

Well, it's time to get the clamp off the chair and my wife has set a cup of coffee down beside me. The years slip away to fast, and so do the dreams, unfulfilled.

[shoot-n-lead]

I know what you mean...about time slipping away.

An example would be...our deer season ended Sun...and I just let the last 2wks slide by and only hunted 1 time. We already had a freezer full of meat...but I will be missing hunting by next weekend...should have gotten out more than I did.

[kingstrider]

I dream of hunting out west one of these days but the only thing stopping me is money. Hopefully I'll be in a position within the next 5-10 years to make it a reality before I get too old.

[popper]

Flyfishing in Ak, shooting a deer with cast (then figure out how to handle the meat), traveled around the world so no need for that. My bucket is too full of **** for dreams.

[Blackwater]

You know Hickory, you just jumped a couple of notches above where you were on my scale of value. And you were already pretty high! Men don't seem to have a real appetite for adventure today, or appreciate the value of danger well and properly faced. And look at what that yields! It's all around us and all over the news these days! God bless you, brother! You're a REAL man!

[slim1836]

I always wanted (and still do) to go to Pearl Harbor and pay my respects.

Did make it to the Alamo though.

Slim

[shooter93]

I've been very fortunate to have made it to most of my dreams with the one I never thought I'd realize was a month in Zimbabwe chasing stuff that wanted to kill or eat me. I still have a few dreams and you should never quit dreaming. I think I may realize the rest of mine but if not it's ok. Dreams and hope keep you young and if nothing else you realize them in your mind.

[Hickory]

I don't want to give the impression that I've not done much in my life, I have.
When in my teens I hunted a lot of rabbits and squirrel.
Fished and hunted bear in Canada 7-8 times.
Shot prairie dogs in 4 different states over 32 years.
Hunted deer in Wyoming, Montana, Black Hills in South Dakota and at home in Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania for over 35 years.
Elk hunting in Colorado & Wyoming.
Sailed and fished the Great Lakes with my friend and neighbor Jay Hammond before he passed.
I been to Australia twice and traveled up and down its eastern coast seen a lot of things.
Not to mention the untold camping, canoeing and fishing trips on the spur of the moment.
Motorcycle trip to Colorado, Wyoming and Utah before entering that Air Force.
And when my son got out of the Marines we rode motorcycles home from California.

I guess I can't complain my life has been rewarding and prosperous.

[Taylor]

I just found out another high school friend has passed.Yep,know what you mean.

[sghart3578]

This is a very thought provoking thread. If you fellas don't find it too sappy or maudlin I would like to offer you some advice.

Don't wait to do something until you can afford it, or the kids grow up, or your situation improves, or whatever.

My wife and I were doing just that. We have the kids raised and settled and other than babysitting the grandkids occasionally we were pretty much free. She recently retired and I have two more years until I pull the pin.

We had plans to travel to Spain for an extended period and stay with her family, then travel Europe with my all time best buddy who is married to a wonderful lady from the Czech Republic. That has all changed.

Last year, ironically on our 30th wedding anniversary, we found out my wife has stage 4 cancer. I will leave it there.

Do what you want now, while you can.


Steve in N CA

[Hickory]

Back in the 70's when I had a TV I watched a National Geographic special about the 3-4 guys who went to the Yukon river in Canada, they built a raft and floated down stream into Alaska. A two year endeavor, wintering over I think in the Yukon.
After they went as far as they wanted to go and were resting at some cabin where they had stopped, one of the men was outside splitting firewood. The guy was asked this question, "Why would you take two years out of your life to do this." The guy answered, "When I'm old and can't get around very well I don't want to look back on my life a and say, 'Damn, I wish I would've done that.'"

All the things I listed above that I'd done was done on a shoestring budget always sleeping in a tent and at times going with little or no food.
Even when my wife and I got married, and went on our honeymoon, we went to Montana backpacking and camping in the mountains for 3 weeks.
If it weren't for camping, I doubt I'd have went anywhere at all.
But, like Steve said, don't wait until you have the money or think you'll do it after you retire, do it now. Don't wait until you're all stoved up looking out the window on a miserable cold and rainy day being melancholy saying to yourself, "I wish I would have done that."
Adventures by it own definition is, pain, misery, and suffering. But it's something you'll always remember.

[sghart3578]

I have often thought that most of us live our lives backwards. When we are young we work towards a comfortable retirement, too often passing up experiences while telling ourselves that we will do plenty once we quit working.

We should be having fun now while our bodies can take it.

A very good friend is experiencing the set backs of unexpected developments. He and I worked together for almost 20 years. He is 12 years older than me. When he was still here in California we would hunt together and trail ride together.

His plan was to retire and move himself and his horses to New Mexico. His brother was there and he would retire at the same time. They would spend their golden years riding and elk hunting.

His plan went okay at first. He made several trips back there, finally buying a small parcel with a cabin just down the road from his brother.

But life has a way of kicking you in the sack. Within the first few months of his retirement his brother was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his brain. Surgery left him alive but unable to ride or hunt.

Then my friend had a series of heart attacks that have left him weak and wobbly.

But at 71 years old my friend is still feisty. He was meeting with the surgeon to discuss the implanting of his pacemaker/defibrillator. The surgeon told my friend that he would put it on the right side of his chest. My friend asked "Can you put it on the left side? I put my rifle on the right side."

[jcwit]

I did mny of the things Iwished to do before getting married at the age 37.

Since that time 35 years ago there have been many other things I wished to do with my wife, many we did together, many were never realized.

Now I seem to be at a time where no more dreams will happen, but I still truly wish I could have shared these dreams with my wife. But it is what it is, and she swears she will support me, regardless which path I take.

[shooterg]

Ride the mules and camp at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

[Mtnfolk75]

In early July 2010 I was offered a Summer job on the Stampede Trail, I was a 56 year old Medically Retired & stoved up Old Beat Cop who walked with a limp. I put it out to my friends & family asking their opinions, everyone said pretty much the same thing ..... DO IT, because if you don't you will always wonder if you could. With 24 hours to pack I flew to Anchorage and my Daughter drove me to Healy. I spent 9 of the next 10 weeks living in a 8x10 Cabin Tent with no running water or electricity, I would come in every 6-8 days for an overnighter to get a shower & wash clothes. Had the time of my life, and since then my health has steadily declined, but now I don't wonder if I could do it [smilie=s:

[merlin101]

Dreams are what life is made of!
If it weren't for dreams I'd have a very boring life, oh well.

[dverna]

I look at all the things I wanted to do and did.

I am the type of person who will always have something on "the bucket list". It is a huge world out there and there is much to explore and do.

I feel sorry for those who have nothing left on their bucket list. Must be a sad life.

Don Verna

[mold maker]

My old age bucket has a hole in it and still runs over in spite of all the items I've marked off.
I've lived a full and wondrous life trough some exciting times and it only served to expose me to more things of interest that I'll never get to.
To a curious mind there is an endless stream of things to learn and the path to experience is but new pages in a book not read.
Open your mind and learn things your not even interested in. All knowledge is useful even when we don't understand it. Sooner or later we find its relevance to a totally different subject.

[Sur-shot]

It is very, very important that you go and do while you are able. One day, in a instant, it can all change and you can be faced with "I wish I had" to live with for the rest of your life. I decided a long time ago to go and do as long as I was able. I wish it all had lasted longer, but today, I do not think about what I never did, I think about what I did do. I have had one amazing ride in this life and am very grateful and thankful for that gift.
Ed

[Hogtamer]

Yep, all the above. But I got so much better than my dreams, don't really remember thinking about it much, but a good woman married me almost 42 yrs ago. God had better dreams for me. 2 fine sons, 4 grands. A great life. Hunted and bagged more game than a man deserves. Doves, ducks, quail, deer, hogs; bow, shotgun, pistol and rifle. Enough fish to fill the ocean it seems. Made a decent living, owe no man a dollar. Serve in a great body of believers and have a God who loves me enough that He died for me. My resolution this year is ThanksLiving for all I can see and that I can't. And I pray that when I'm horizontal before the church a few will be able to say,"he was a good man."

[leadman]

I'm on Medicare now and recently was thinking about what I have done and what I wanted to do but haven't. #31 surgeries, arthritis, pain have slowed me down but I can still get around decent.
I have wanted to shoot distances beyond 600 yards so a few months back bought a Ruger American in 6.5 Creedmoor and put a Vortex Diamondback HP 4X16 scope on it that should allow me to do this.
Always wanted to play around with a lathe and mill and have had an old worn out Craftsman 109 but it lead to frustration. My new Smithy Midas combo is somewhere between St. Louis and Phoenix with arrival in Phx on Friday.
Wife wants to do some more traveling so this is on the agenda also.
I have so much stuff I have gathered over the years that I am going to sort it out, sell what I can, and do something with the rest. Need to do some sprucing up on the house so will have to do that also.
With my health and history I probably don't have many years left but do plan on enjoying them with my wife, sons, and grandkids.

[Hickory]

I hope you young people (40 and younger) are reading this thread and heeding some of the advice here. Us old guys only have a few more doors to open in this life. Don't wait until you get to that last door.

[atr]

My biggest dream was to find a good piece of land in the mountains and build a cabin. I wanted to have the cabin habitable during the winter by the time I turned 70. In 2008 I finally found that land, 20 acres way up in the North Central Cascades, and I started to build that cabin. I built it myself, about 600 sq ft. I had to haul all the material in myself as the land is way up in the mountains. Burned out one truck doing the hauling. Hauled water from the creek to mix the concrete. Dug the foundations out by hand. Dropped a major floor beam on my hand breaking it, went back the next year after it had healed and started again. Worked on the cabin during the winter months at 10 deg F without heat. That was miserable. Well fast forward to 2016, I finished the basic structure: floor, walls, roof, windows, main door, insulation and lastly the got the wood stove installed. It is now comfortable and warm even now at 7deg F during the night.
There is still more to do: dig a well, put the finish trim and siding on, add on outside sun-deck..ect. ect...
I am 70 now and I have almost reached my goal.
My feeling is that if you have a dream, don't wait on it.
art

184993

[Harter66]

I never had many of the things on a bucket list that I've done .
In spite of that I've seen 5 Olympic villages , drank a beer with my Dad in 3 countries , drank a beer with my grandfather in 2 , fished sea bass with my Grandfather,Dad and sons old enough to remember the trip to Baja . Unofficially the boys had a drink from a 4 generation quart bottle of beer after a 4 generation day fishing the dark water of the Pacific ocean . I've been in 19 states . I've been over 100 on 2 wheels ,over 150 on 4 and by a clever slight of hand and a generous tail wind exceeded Mach1 on wings ground speed anyway . I have taxi time in a P 51 D ,AT 6 C and flight time in a J4 Piper Cub which doesn't seem like a big deal but since there were only 24 known examples at that time it is . I've set in both an F4U-4 and an F2G Corsair . I got to crawl around in 1 of 2 surviving Lancaster Bombers in North America in Nanton Alberta. Had dinner Bob Hoover , Art Schol and ADM David Griggs . I spent a lot more time with a crew chief that worked for Douglas Aircraft ..... He took a plane nobody wanted to be responsible for .... It was the 1 they shuttled Truman around in before Columbine . I also spent a lot of time with with a crop duster from Arkansas that had a FedEx pickup contract and a gig to haul the Governor and first lady around , he tells me Chelsea was a PITA . I've only hunted and fished in 4 of the 19 states I've visited . I've raised 3 service members and a gifted artist and lived long enough to meet all 6 grandchildren . I've seen the Aroraborialis .

About the only thing on my to do list is to see the sun rise over the Atlantic and set over the Pacific on the same day , Marti Gras from a safe distance and an elevated platform , Hawaii would be nice , obviously Pearl Harbor and a particular home that once belonged to my great Aunt . I once dreamed of seeing the Victors Arches in Rome ,Paris and Berlin but settled for London Bridge , nevermind that being a near suicide trip today .

I must now get all 4 kids , all 6 grandchildren and my folks in 1 picture and see the 1 yo graduate high school . I also need to get on the restoration of the 56' F100 I came home from the hospital in back in 66' it was my first car ride on the outside . I also need to get on the restoration of the 59' Ranchero I drove to high school and brought my oldest boy home in back in 85' .

My 50 years have been full dotted with amazing moments of grand scale but mostly just living .

Don't ever let life take over living , it OK for it to get in the way from time to time .

[johnson1942]

i would like to put a little twist on this wonderful post. God knows all my unfulfilled dreams as he is the one who put those dreams in my mind. little by little, day by day he has fulfilled my dreams.i have a couple left but he has worked toward that goal of all my dreams fulfilled. i went back to college when i was 36 years old and got into medicine as i always wanted to. i have a good wife and children and grandchildren. he is working on my non profit charity that i started to make it work. he is working on the book i always wanted to write about my time in the NSA many many years ago. he lets me stay upright every day and walk like a younger person. he gives me purpose and fulfillment and he gave me the dreams and now is fulfilling them one by one. God and dreams are very closely related if you belong to him.

[Blackwater]

Amen to that comment "dreams are what life is made of." No truer words have ever been spoken. Had some cousins that went to CO every year for an elk/deer hunt. They always asked me to go, but something always intervened to prevent it. Finally, I had a situation where I could go, and even built a gun for it. But one by one, they'd grown older, and something intervened for them, and it had to be called off. I'll always regret not just going, and letting situations work out however they'd have worked out. Might have been good, or might have made me seem more "indispensable." (HA! Fat chance of THAT!) So ... I was foolish to be so "responsible" as I was, and now, I regret it.

If anyone wants to do something, DO IT. You may not get another chance!

[mold maker]

As far as things never done, there is a 4c yellow diamond still waiting at the Crater of Diamonds State in Murphysboro Ark, and a hand full of gleaming yellow gold in the American River in Alaska. Most of the other dreams are fulfilled. I'm sure there are others I just forgot, but those two stand out in my mind.
The dreams I enjoyed include, an emerald found inches from my fingers, that I later cut and now own. The God granted life spent with my wife of 54 years, and holding the hand of my sole mate while she battled and beat serious cancer twice.
Seeing my Grandchildren almost grown, with good educations, is a wondrous accomplishment in it's self.
While there is the possibility I would have done some things in a different order, I wouldn't have missed this trip for anything.
Share your desires with those around you and don't be surprised who will enjoy them with you.
Ask those around you what their dreams include, and help make them possible.
Life is too short to be stuck in a rut.

[facetious]

It's funny how the older I get all the dream's slowly start turning in to fantasy's.