Everyone as a child growing up had a dream. A dream to be a teacher, a mother, an author, and actor/actress. The list could go on and on. My children have dreams. My 9 year old son wants to play hockey in the NHL for the Carolina Hurricanes and my daughter wants to be an actress on the Disney Channel. The odds of these dreams happening are slim but as their mother I can only hope they follow their desires and strive to do the best they can.
When they get married their dreams will still be there and I'm sure they will be changed a million times over before they reach the age of marriage but when they enter their marriage they will be combining their dreams with their spouse and that is when they will have to figure out how to achieve their own dreams while being emotionally and physically and even financially supportive of their spouses dreams.
I think of my own marriage often while reading these chapters in this book. My husband I joking say that at the age of 36 he just doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up but I support him in all his continuing education desires and job changes. However I finally expressed my desire to finish my degree and that I didn't feel it fair to our children for us both to be in school full time and at that point when I brought it up about me starting school again I just felt it was time but needed his support and help around the house if I was going to resume with classes to finish the degree I started 12 years ago.
When in a relationship you need to hear each other out. Dreams aren't meant to be squashed but they may require years in the waiting if your spouse is pursuing their dreams. G0ttman stated that just because you support your spouse dream doesn't mean that you believe that dream can or should be realized it just means you are honoring your partner's dreams which then benefits your marriage.
We all need to acknowledge and respect our spouses dreams and desires and their personal hopes and that is key to enriching our marriages. I am so thankful for my husbands faith in me to finish my degree and helping me out even though he is in school and working full time himself but he is never negative or expecting a lot out of me while I'm in school. The house may look a bit crazy at times but he is understanding and even vacuums and mops more now than he ever has in our entire 13 years of marriage.
In the end we need to make sure we can be a listener of our spouses dreams. We need to say thank you in times when they support us or help us out achieving our dreams or even just the fact that they listened and understood your hopes. Count your blessings and especially thank your spouse for their support and love.
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