Yes, we know it’s a sappy movie, and Richard Gere simply plays himself, but we still enjoy re-runs of “Pretty Woman.” One of our favorite parts is the upbeat voiceover:
Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? … This is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don’t. But keep on dreamin’ – this is Hollywood.
Those themes crossed this week, as the HGTV Dream House in Armstrong Estates came true for the couple in Florida, perhaps soon to be Sonoma residents, and as excitement builds for the upcoming Sonoma International Film Festival.
Steve Ledson himself is living a dream, with the continuing development of the neighborhood he created in the Armstrong Estates and with the popularity of the HGTV project. And he’s sharing that dream with local youth through the good works of the Ledson Harmony Foundation, using the proceeds of the continuing tours of the beautiful and professionally decorated home.
Those themes also crossed for high school senior Michael Lee, who dreams of a career in film and has just had his latest film accepted into the film festival. The film “D.D.” was shown to appreciative audiences (and impressionable, too, we hope) at a recent high school assembly, and it drives home the message that drinking and driving can be a deadly combination. At least, that’s what we understand; we’re looking forward to seeing it ourselves on the big screen during the festival, running April 1-5.
And at the risk of overstating the case, we’re reminded of the famous dreams of Martin Luther King Jr., still much in our minds, especially his “dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” arguably come true with the election of our newest president.
What’s your dream? Surely you have one.
Dreaming is living with a purpose. Dreaming is believing that we can do better – be better. Life without dreams would be … boring. We know that each day we have the opportiunity, among decisons big and small, to follow our dreams, and that makes life exciting.
We admit that as we get older, our own dreams have become a little simpler. We no longer dream of being president some day, and we no longer dream of going “home” to the lives we thought our parents lived.
We do dream of a world in which greed and the seductive lure of power are everywhere restrained by the rule of law, in which honest labor earns food and shelter and in which freedom exists to pursue personal dreams.
We also dream of a nation in which government is small and liberty great – where our leaders are more concerned about saving us from our enemies than from ourselves.
We dream especially of a local community that recognizes and celebrates the beauty of this special place and the shared dreams of those who call it home, that accepts the mission of educating our youth to become confident, competent contributors to society, and that understands we here today are but stewards for a time.
For ourselves, our deepest dreams are surprisingly simple: solace in quiet moments, and service to others in need. In our view, sustaining both of those would be a dream come true.
