Dedicated
to my Dream Partner
August 3, 2020
 |
| My Dream Partner, my Sunshine |
What does it mean to have a dream partner? It is a person who shares the
dream/dreams you have and works with you to make them a reality. Dream partners
can be business partners, or family members. For me, it is my wife, my
Sunshine. If you know our story, you know that we have been dream partners ever
since we met. I met my dream partner at California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona. We dreamed there...we built there...I proposed to her
there. The best decision I ever made in college was marrying my Sunshine. Yet,
it almost did not happen.
My proposal to get married was almost the proposal that never happened. Even
though I had the support from members of her family and my family, I was scared
to dream with her beyond college life. I was a first-generation college
student, I had no wealth, and my car was barely holding on. All I had was “a
couple of college credits and my top-notch brain.” I had a dream to change the
world. In my mind I thought who would give up a world of comfort for that?
Would my Sunshine want to build that dream into a reality with me? This concern
hindered my efforts to blow her away with a romantic proposal...I feared she
would say no. In my most vulnerable state, she said yes. She said she would
marry me and began to dream.
Our
marriage has been full of dreams and nightmares. I am thankful the dreams
outweigh the nightmares by a long shot. This year, my Sunshine and I dreamed of
having our own forever home. In January 2020, we began looking at homes. We
were not ready to have our own home, but we wanted to get ideas. We came upon
this home not far from us. The moment we walked in, my Sunshine was in love
with the house. She saw things I could not see. She was dreaming of
possibilities, and I was stuck in reality. Unfortunately, when we began to
seriously look at homes, only one of us was dreaming. I was thinking in the
now, my Sunshine was dreaming about the future. And then in May 2020, we saw a
house. It was nice. It had potential, but there was a problem. My Sunshine
pointed out that this home was good for the family right now, but what about
the future? We could not grow in this
house. At that moment, I realized that I had stopped being her dream partner.
My Sunshine was dreaming alone. I was seeing convenience while she was seeing
more. My shortcoming rocked me, and I told her, "I want to dream with
you." From the moment forward, we dreamed of not settling...we dreamed of
a home that would allow our family to grow and bless others.
My
dream partner put my commitment to the test. The house we saw in January that
she loved, was the first house we saw once we found a realtor to help us. In
June, it was still the only house that was aligned with our forever home dream
wish list. We drove by it (together and separately). When we drove by it, we
prayed about it. If this was not going to be our home, we wanted something just
like it. And then one day, we walked by it. We saw a potential neighbor. We
introduced ourselves and asked him to pray that we get this house and become
his neighbors. Then, we shared our vision with some of our closest loved ones.
They encouraged us to go for it. We wrote the seller a letter. In the letter we
said…
Our desire is to grow our
family. We know to do this, the space needs to be bigger than where we currently
reside; welcoming for growth...Over the last few years we have become part of
the city. Our children attend the local public schools and we are actively
serving the community because we want to contribute to its legacy.
Since we moved to Texas, it has been our dream to have a forever home. We have
worked tirelessly to get to this point. Making this home our home will have
made the journey worth it. If you accept our offer, you are helping two
educators achieve their dreams, so we can focus on helping others achieve
theirs. Our desire is to close on July 31st. This is our wedding
anniversary. We feel that closing on this date would be an indelible reminder
of the blessings the Year 2020 has brought to our family.
 |
| Sold to the Hurd 3rd Crew |
The seller did not accept our
initial offer; we accepted the counter. We did not close on the house on our
wedding anniversary, but pretty close to it. From a sentimental perspective, it
was not what we wanted. We also recognized the closing date was not deal
breaker either. We had several hiccups along the way. Yet, because we were
dreaming together, setbacks were just setups for success to get this home. When
one of us was losing confidence on the journey, the other partner reminded us
that our journey was bigger than us; our potential impact was bigger than us.
Our faith in our dreams were bigger than our doubts. We focused on what was to
come, rather than what was.
16
years later, I love how we are still finding
new ways to dream. My Sunshine continuously shows me that if we dare to dream,
there is no limit to what we can do. Even in the midst of economic uncertainty
and a global pandemic, we dreamed beyond what we could see. For years, my wife
and I were members of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, led by Dr. Tony Evans. One of
the sermons that stuck with me was his sermon of faith. He defined faith as “acting like it
is so, even when it’s not so, in order than it might be so, simply because God
said so.” For us, faith requires us to do our part, and letting God do the
rest. The challenge is being patient for God’s timing. Thankfully, our faith in
God is mutual. We believe we are each other’s dream partner. And that cohesive
faith goes a long way. My challenge to others is to find a dream partner. Find someone
who dreams with you based on faith, not by sight. For dreams to be what they
need to be you have to have faith. Faith that believes impossible is nothing.
Dream together! A dream partner must be faithful. You must be faithful with your dream partner. So, dream on!
- Elgrie J., The Dream Partner of Althea C. (my Sunshine)
