Last November the best storyteller I know (second only to Roald Dahl) passed away.
My dad used to tell me the most fantastical bedtime stories and in one of them, he created an incredibly special character. At the time and for many years afterwards, I pleaded with him to write it down and capture the story.
On one occasion when I was much older, he tried, but many years had passed and the magic of those bedtime moments had somehow gone.
It’s not that I grew up, because I know for sure that it was a truly magical world that he created. It’s that he didn’t seize the moment and take action.
As a child I even drew an image of what the character should look like and he pinned it to a board in our garage. It stayed there until we moved home a couple of years later.
I was nine years-old.
And I’m sad to say he never got around to writing that book.
Because as is the case for so many of us, the busyness of life got in the way.
There was too much else going on to find the space to create.
He worked full time in London, then had his hands full with myself and my brother when he came home afterwards.
But to me it feels like such a waste.
Now that I’m a mum I can’t help but think I don’t want my little boy to be disappointed in the same way.
To think that, “Wow my mum’s really creative, but what has she created?”
So I’m sharing this with you now because it means that I have to follow through with it.
There is no way that I can re-capture that amazing magical world imagined by my dad.
But in his memory, I am going to try to honour the character through name if by nothing else.
And it is this book that I’m going to dedicate myself to write next.
It’s a story for older children – ages seven to nine, because this is around the same time that my dad inspired me. The same time I discovered Roald Dahl, and the same time I fell head over heels in love with poetry.
I hope that it will prove to be as magical as the original story was for me.
It’s going to be a lot of work, but as it’s in honour of a very special man, it will be a true labour of love.
The reason for me telling you all of this – is that if you have a dream you have to follow it.
Take action and make it happen.
Even if you take small steps.
Every. Single. Day.
Don’t let anything or anyone steer you from your chosen course.
Your dreams are precious and there is a reason that you have them.
And when it all feels as if it’s getting too much just remember that IMPOSSIBLE actually spells out I’M POSSIBLE.
Because you know that you are.
And so are your dreams.
Nicola x
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