We all have dreams and we try to attain those dreams. At least I do. I generally don’t create dreams that I can’t attain because then I am just disappointed. We have the little dreams, and we all have big dreams and right now our biggest dream is to be able to live in Southern California, but honestly, is this an attainable dream? I don’t know as the US and Canada don’t get along well when it comes to moving across borders. But why California? Why not the Sunshine Coast? 
Well, one reason is the sand…the sand in California is “real” (as quoted by my niece). But why else? Well… here are some reasons…
1. There is something about the California Coast people that appeal to us… watching a bunch of business people go surfing at lunch is just cool. There is a laid back lifestyle that appeals to me, which thankfully, the people on the Pacific Coast are slowly understanding.
2. It is the part about our life that would mean starting over…cleaning the slate and trying to create our life to go a little better and maybe do things without the mistakes we made here. I think that might be our financial hell talking though, so maybe once things look up a little better, we won’t be so down about not being able to move.
3. We have some really cool friends in Southern California and I would love to live close by so we could get to know them more…how fun would that be.
4. Mickey Mouse lives there…really, how amazing would it be to live in the same state as Disneyworld? Is that not everyone’s dream?
So why not the Sunshine Coast…it is close by and the lifestyle is a lot like what they have in Southern California… or maybe Vancouver Island…especially the west side where all the surfer’s are…hmmmm…do we change our dreams? Not sure and it is what we have been pondering. Here are the reasons we stay here and we have to focus on them because even though the grass is always greener on the other side, our grass is what we have and we have to nurture it, water it and appreciate it.
1. My parents…they are our best friends and we LOVE spending time with them. They support us and are there for us through it all. How could we move away from them? 
2. Our current living situation…we may be having issues with the tenants downstairs, but the big picture here is that we have amazing landlords and something tells me we can be long time friends. This is one our favourite places to live so far. We love the area and we have the support to make our space look nice.
3. We can work here…in California we would not be able to work, so really, we have not choice but to stay because here is where the work is. So our prayer is that we find jobs that can pay the bills and be able to travel to California to visit.
4. Being a Canadian…well…I would love to be an American citizen, but after this year of watching all the American people grumble and complain about EVERYTHING and how non tolerant they are with differences in people, I am slowly understanding why we should be proud to be Canadian. We grumble about our politics, but honestly, who can do better? We don’t live in a perfect world and the only way we can change the people in politics is to go out and vote. Stop criticizing everyone for what they do because I think the people in our government (for the most part) are doing the best they can for the person that they are. There is no way I could do their job…I can’t imagine waking up every morning to people talking trash about me all the time. I can’t imagine that is good on a person’s self esteem. I am not saying I like how our provincial government is treating us, but I will not talk trash about them personally and when it comes time to vote, I hope I will vote for what works for me. Do people not realize that we are all different and what works for one person doesn’t work for another…it is all about tolerance and I wish there was more of it around. I just think as Canadians, we do a little better job of it and my hope would that we can move to California and show my American neighbours how it is done LOL.
5. I need to focus on the positives…we live as close as we can get to the US without moving there. We have the benefits of being a Canadian, but able to save some money by shopping in the US for the things that are cheaper there. We live close to airports that allow us to visit Southern California for cheap. We live in a very beautiful part of Canada and we should be very grateful for that. Even though it rains a lot here, we have beautiful green scenery because of that rain.
Dreams…I will hold on to the ones I have and hopefully they will all come true, but if they don’t, that is a part of life. So many of our dreams have come true so really, what do we have to complain about…we need to appreciate what we have and not always focus on what we don’t have. I have had a hard week with the finances, so I think that is what is bringing up these emotions…but I think it will start getting a little better soon with the new job I got and hopefully Doug will find something too. We pray for guidance and I hope we follow where God leads us because I do know we try very hard to be aware of what God wants us to do.
If we can’t move to California, I think the Sunshine Coast might be a goal for us at some point. But it has to be where God wants us and not where we want to be. I do believe that God gives us the dreams in our hearts though, so I think we will be ok. Things don’t happen overnight, so we have to be patient and live for today…stop worrying about tomorrow. Today we will enjoy our yard that has some newly planted trees. Today we will enjoy a car that we can use for star gazing because the roof goes down. Today we will enjoy our home because it is cozy and has our stuff in it. Today we will enjoy my parents because they live close by and are fun to be around. Today we will enjoy our friends that live here. Today we will book vacations for tomorrow 
