When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be…

Looking back… as you grew up, have you been able to fulfill (any) (some) of your childhood dreams?

An early summer morning in a warm, breezy bay town, in the south center of Cuba. A seven year old, getting ready to go off to swimming practices, stares up into the bright blue sky and dreams about the day he is an older version of his present self, and has graduated from medical school, opening an office in this very town, where he and his family have lived for the better part of 4 generations.

The day was a good, lazy day for exploring around town after swimming practices so the boy opted to go to the club in his bike, instead of the usual bus ride. The ride would be a long one, so he left a little earlier than usual. Riding along, he crossed the center of the town park in a diagonal line, mentally saying hi to the statues which were meant to remind all about those who were responsible for liberating the country from the Spaniards… as he weaved around them trying hard not to run headlong into any of the embodiments.

After running the silent, watchful marble gauntlet, he went up on San Fernando Street a few blocks into Prado Boulevard. A right turn while doing his best not to run down any of the street crossing folk and from there, it was a straight shot down the boulevard, into the avenue which bordered the bay and into the club. Some 4 miles as the crow flied (I guess it still is if the crow could fly avoiding being shot by someone who does not care what kind of fowl to put into his wanting rice and chicken pot)… and a nice long ride on a bike. Especially for someone who had not a care in the world.

As that boy would ride his –then state of the art- red and silver 3 speed bike (sold by Sears!) his mind would fly along… the blue skies, the blue bay waters… he could follow the small ferry boats which would, like floating bus lines, traverse the bay from the city docks to several stops until finally making it to the small town at the mouth of the bay (under the shadow and shade of the old, colonial Jagua Castle) and then, after a short recess, start the second leg of their always repeating journey, back to their point of origin.

The Club

After a morning of swimming laps under the watchful eye of the coach and trainer, that boy would have a sandwich lunch at the club cafeteria, to then go out for a “row”, taking out one of the small wooden boats which equipped with two old fashioned, heavy wood oars, made for an excellent exercise after the exercise. Slowly rowing along, he would go by the Cazadores Club, a nearby club, following from the watery way the row of houses of this fairly exclusive residential area of the city. 

At the end of the small peninsula (where the clubs and residential areas were) was the Jagua Hotel, then under construction by his grandfather and business partners. At that point, it was time to turn around and head back to the club. This oft repeated sojourn in quiet waters, so to speak, gave that boy an opportunity to dream about life, about a future, and about those things which could be done in a lifetime. A normal lifetime.

Sunset on The Bay

That boy sometimes dreamed about becoming a doctor who could and would help deliver others from their ills… or perhaps a known writer of stories and histories… maybe a business executive who would get to know the world… of course, just becoming Superman would have been OK also, for it was a simpler world for children back then; simple outlooks and simple projections… not like today’s world where complications –even in childhood- are more the norm than the exceptions.

Summer days were great for dreaming, for making up a life which would be shrouded in greatness, free of worries and problems. That child was convinced this would be so, that there could be no problem big enough to change this outlook…

Of course, life has a way to let us know that what we dream as children is dependant on what the adults around us may –or not- decide. And, sometimes, as was in his case, what adults who had nothing to do with his life, chose to do. Those childhood dreams, depending on perspectives, may have come to pass in different ways. And as life goes into the latter years, when we take stock of all the issues which make up our existence, those dreams are still alive, although perhaps under different guises. That child is definitely still alive, very much so; that wandering and wondering mind is still alive, very much so… and, hopefully, it will always so remain.

Be Well … Be Back!!!

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