DREAMS CAN COME TRUE! GO THE DISTANCE!

One of the best parts of my job is when I get a chance to visit an elementary school and tell stories to the kids. It never fails that I will ask the students about their dreams in life.

Which brings me back to my own childhood days when I attended a Catholic elementary school in Massachusetts. During my year of third grade studies, Sister Marie Catherine (my teacher) posed this question to her students: "What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up" and then instructed us all to write down our answer on paper and she would read them out loud. Many of us stated the same things: astronaut, doctor, fireman, lawyer, policeman, etc. Then came mine. My teacher was stunned by my answer and called me up to the front of the room and whispered to me... “Mr. Loria, you can’t be what you wrote on this paper. How did you come up with such an answer?” I wrote that I wanted to be like “MR. ED", a talking horse from the hit TV Show back in the 60's. My teacher didn't read my "dream" out loud but did actually call my Mom and I got in all kinds of trouble at home for embarrassing my family.

When I reached 8th grade, my teacher wanted to know once again what we wanted to be as we got ready to graduate into high school. Same answers came from my friends in class. My answer was: “Dolphin Trainer”. I was inspired by another hit TV show called "FLIPPER" and my dream then was to one day work at the San Diego Zoo! Four years later, my high school teacher surveyed his students to see what our career plans were as we got ready to enter adulthood. My answer was: “To work in the National Hockey League”.

That path took a lot of hardships and some stress a long the way at home to make that dream come to fruition. Why: As my Mom told me “how many kids from New Bedford, Massachusetts get to work in the NHL?” After all, back in 1974, I turned down a photography job and another as a silk screen printer of shower curtains at a pretty good wage… all because I had this dream of mine to work in hockey!

Gang, don’t stop dreaming and keep on believing. Last night as I was helping clean up the kitchen for my wife (who baked an endless supply of Christmas Cookies for our family), my trustworthy IPOD was glued to my ear. One song that came up on the playlist – Michael Bolton’s “GO THE DISTANCE” - inspired me to write this piece as a bit of Holiday Hope for our members that have the same dreams as I to someday work in the sports industry.

I’ll be there someday, I can go the distance
I will find my way, if I can be strong
I know every mile, will be worth my while
When I go the distance, I’ll be right where I belong
Down an unknown road, to embrace my fate
Though that road may wander, it will lead me to you
And a thousand years, would be worth the wait
It might take a lifetime, but somehow I’ll see it through
And I won’t look back, I can go the distance
And I’ll stay on track, no, I won’t accept defeat
It’s an uphill slope, but I won’t lose hope
Till I go the distance, and my journey is complete

To keep inspiring me everyday, my daughters set up my cell phone voice mail ringtone a few years ago to the actual MR. ED television show theme song as a reminder that I did not miss my CALL IN LIFE even though that adorable horse inspired my first set of dreams!


Jim Loria, Career Planning Expert for Sports Professionals
Email address: loria@sfstampede.com