Three times this week I visited the American Cemetery, before, on and after the 67th anniversary of the Allied Invasion on and behind the beaches of Northern France.
Today, I will drive back toward Paris, with notes, ideas, pictures and videos to begin to piece this trip together. As I sip on the last drops of French-pressed coffee (here as the only guest of a magnificent B&B) I am contemplating my own next steps...
Yesterday, I met a guy (I'd call him a gentleman, but I think he'd correct me..."Young man, I was a private doing what I was told to do, don't you say, 'thank you, sir' to me!") yesterday who told me about carrying a 40-pound machine gun from Omaha Beach, to the Battle of the Bulge, on through Belgium, and ultimately in to and throughout Germany. ("Thank goodness I was only 18 years old, 130 pounds of muscle," he said with a laugh.)
Now...he's a docent and greeter at Niagara Falls! He said, "I gotta do somethin', so I make people laugh, tellin' 'em about this great country of ours."
In 1994, my life-long dream became: Learn, Teach, Change. I moved to Ojai, California and did just that: teaching high school history, Spanish, baseball, ESL and mock trial. I then went on to become the senior trainer of the Getting Things Done (a book by David Allen) seminars. In 2007, my wife and I started our third business together, and next year (2012) I have another book being published.
I knew i needed to get back to the root of it all; I wanted to revisit my dream. This trip, just 90 or so hours, has renewed a hunger, a need, and a purpose in me.
How about you?
What's your dream, and how can you renew it?
Location:Omaha Beach, Normandy, France
