These things were not an occasional happening, but something that occurred regularly every school morning.



I don't know when it started, but I would dream of living on a lovely tropical island. I imagined myself lying on the sand listening to the gentle breeze rustling though the coconut palms. Swimming in warm blue green water. Soaking up the warmth from a tropical sun.

All the things that are the opposite of being regularly chilled to the bone.

As the years wore on I have lived in many places from back of beyond in the mountains, to lush coastal bush, (New Zealand), to scenic hinterland (Australia) to the 19th floor in a high rise building in a bustling overcrowded city (Hong Kong). Yet, I finally made it to my childhood dream. Living on a tropical island - Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

Regularly my husband and I stand on the verandah of our home in the tropics and watch in awe, as the romantic, tropical moon paints its majestic silvery path across the lagoon at the bottom of our property. We never tire of the ever changing light that plays gently across the water, particularly in the early morning or late afternoon.

It's so lovely. There is no sign of another house across the lagoon. Just wild beautiful bush. All the locals live hidden deep in the bush. The only evidence of them is the occasional curl of smoke as they cook their evening meal, or some canoes belonging to the fishermen, out on the water.

We are often woken in the morning to the sound of a VW being dropped into the lagoon. No it's not a VW it's a huge school of fish leaping in the lagoon. You would leap out of the water too if you had a bigger fish chasing after you looking for its breakfast.

Sounds too good to be true. It is, but it is reality.

Over the past three years we have built a wonderful property out of nothing. The buildings were there, but that was all. They were run down and obsolete and the garden non-existent.

We knew hope, frustration, elation, despair and victory in a roller coaster ride. We found money, time and energy were in scarce supply. All those things you do when you renovate four houses and landscape over an acre of land.

Now we are giving away our property so we can give out non-repayable education grants to geographically and financially underprivileged children.

Yep, you read that right. We are giving it away. No we are not some wonderful philanthropic (hard even to spell let alone say) people, we just enjoy life and giving away something is a great way to do it. We have found people who have a much greater need that we do and we want to help them.

So what is this all about? We all get bogged down with whatever situation we are in. Overwhelmed by the day to day routine and demands of life. But dreams do need to be worked at, sometimes with blood, sweat and tears.

The good news is, don't be afraid to dream, to hold it, to believe in it and to work at that dream. Sometimes the people around you can't believe in your dream. Hold to it.

I imagine Sir Edmund Hilary must have felt at times his conquest of Everest was an impossible dream. He did it though!

Climb some of those mountains. The view from the top is worth it. And a word to failure - it is better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all. We will continue to live on our wonderful tropical island and our dream will remain a reality.

Take time out to lift your eyes to the horizon and dare to dream a dream. You just never know when it will come through. Remember, it is better to have tried and failed, than to never have tried at all.

I will let Robert H Goddard have the final say: "It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."

Copyright (c) 2008 Wendy Tendys