What’s your biggest dream?

My Biggest Dream? Oh Honey… It’s Not Small.

People ask me all the time, “What’s your biggest dream?”

Excuse me… do you have about three hours and a bottle of wine? Because this answer is NOT short.

My biggest dream is simple… yet completely unhinged.

I want to travel this entire beautiful planet before I leave it.

Not just the tourist stuff either.

I want to run with the bulls in Spain while everyone else is asking, “Are you out of your ever-loving mind?”

Why yes… yes I am.

I want to climb mountains, wander through castles in Scotland, sip wine in little villages that I can’t pronounce, eat food that I have to point at on the menu because I have absolutely no idea what it says, and stand on beaches so blue they don’t even look real.

And then…

I want to voluntarily climb into a shark cage off the coast of Africa while a great white shark looks at me like I’m the appetizer.

Normal people see “certain death.”

I see…

“Well… this ought to make for a good blog post.”

I guess somewhere along the way I missed the chapter called “Stay Safe and Color Inside the Lines.”

That chapter and I have never met.

Now enter…

Spirit Water.

Oh, bless her little heart.

She’s my alter ego after a couple glasses of wine.

Spirit Water has absolutely ZERO fear.

She’s protective.

She’s funny.

She’s a little spicy.

She spends money like tomorrow isn’t coming.

She’s standing there yelling…

“BUY THE SHOES!! BUY THE PURSE!! We can’t run with the bulls looking average!”

She has never once met a boutique she didn’t like.

Or a designer handbag.

Or a pair of sunglasses.

Or another vacation.

Spirit Water believes every purchase is an investment in future memories.

The UPS driver probably has my address memorized.

Blaze, my cat, just hears the doorbell and sighs.

“Heavens to Betsy Ross… here comes another package.”

Poor thing never gets any peace.

But honestly…

Maybe I should’ve been a journalist.

I’ve always wanted experiences instead of just stories.

I don’t want to read about life.

I want to LIVE it.

I want to write while sitting in a little café in Paris.

I want to laugh with strangers.

I want to make memories that sound completely made up but are somehow true.

I want to fill journals instead of closets…

…okay, let’s not get crazy.

I’m still filling the closets too.

And somewhere along this wild adventure, maybe I’ll meet my person.

Someone who looks at me and says…

“You want to jump in a shark cage?”

Instead of…

“Absolutely not.”

Someone who says…

“I’ll grab my swimsuit.”

Because life’s a whole lot more fun when you’ve got someone who’s just the right amount of crazy to match your crazy.

At the end of the day, none of us know how much time we have.

That’s exactly why I’m not waiting.

I’m taking the trip.

Buying the ticket.

Packing the suitcase.

Making the memories.

Writing the stories.

Loving my people.

Laughing until my stomach hurts.

And living every single day like it’s another page in the greatest adventure I could ever write.

Because you only get one shot at this beautiful, crazy life.

So tell your people you love them.

Take the trip.

Buy the shoes.

Pet the cat.

Maybe don’t let Spirit Water hold your credit card…

…and if you happen to see me running beside a bull in Spain while a great white shark is somehow next on my itinerary…

Just wave.

I’ll write about it later.

Carpe Diem.