Dream Manager

Some things happen for a reason.

My life changed in an instant. A long distance call from my father telling me that although my mom had stopped breathing an hour before he was able to resuscitate her and get her to the hospital.

I flew back from Las Vegas where I was with some friends, picked up my wife from our home in Indianapolis, and drove to Cincinnati where my mom was lying in coma. I quickly realized that I was part of the Sandwich Generation, having accountability for my own kids and more than likely, the responsibility for the care and well-being of my seventy-seven year old dad.

For nearly all of the subsequent one-hundred and sixty weeks after my mom’s death, just sixteen days after I received that call, I drove to and from Indianapolis and Cincinnati to see my dad. Every Sunday I bought my dad lunch from Red Robin (he liked the Whisky River BBQ Burger and their onion straws) and we would sit outside in the gazebo or up in his room and eat lunch. I would listen to stories, some new, some I heard every week I was with him. I didn’t care, I just enjoyed the time and the laughter we shared.

Twelve days before he died while we were eating lunch, he looked at me and said “Marc, are you living your dreams?” I was surprised by the question, sort of laughed it off, and said “Yea dad, I’m living my dreams just like you are living yours”. He waited what seemed like an eternity and said “Are you living your dreams?” And I knew in an instant that this conversation wasn’t like all the others. “No dad, I’m not”.

And then he asked me a question that would change the direction of my life. “What are you waiting for?” For the first time in a long time, I had nothing to say. No pithy comment, no snarky comeback, no witty retort, no argument, no data. I was just a son learning about life from his dad.

A few months later I received an email from an old friend giving her condolences on the death of my dad. A few weeks later she suggested I buy a book, a “self-help” book she called it. I laughed; no thanks. A few weeks later she strongly suggested I buy the book, she told me it was really a human resources book. Uh huh, um no. Three weeks later she showed up at a speech I was giving and gave me the book. “Read it” she told me… it didn’t feel like a suggestion.

The book? The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly.

After reading the book, I better understood that conversation I had with my dad, twelve days before he died.

I’m Marc Drizin. I’m a Certified Dream Manager. I help individuals and organizations build better futures one dream at a time. Are you living your dreams? What are you waiting for?