Write the Vision of Your Ideal Life As Though It’s Already Happening

My boys are off to school, waving goodbye to me at the door as they leave together, forever best friends. They chatter as they walk down the street toward the school, their voices deep with their teen years, their speech perfect and unaccented, their voices fluent as they make their plans. I watch them go and then set off myself: it’s time to dance. I open the studio early, and Nadira arrives with chai for both of us. We put the music on loud, our bare feet hit the smooth wood, and we dance for ourselves. We close the studio behind us; classes won’t begin until afternoon. We go our separate ways, content to meet up again later that day. I return home to a quiet house and write for a while, listening to music. I spend the rest of the morning in quiet solitude, then meet up with my mother for lunch, then there’s a few more hours to write before the boys return home. I drop them at the martial arts studio; Husband will pick them up later. It’s time to go back to the studio, and the students begin to pour in. We’re hosting a visiting instructor this weekend, and I make sure every student who comes through gets a flier. I teach an intermediate class in ATS, then it’s time for Nadira’s fusion styles, then the beginners come in. We spend the evening teaching, together and apart, and the troupe comes in for a rehearsal. I feel the release and elation of dancing in a large group, my tribe surrounding me, the energy lifting us up, and we smile and laugh as the music moves us as it wills. I return home to find my boys in the backyard with the Husband, practicing their swordwork at the pell. They will be knighted before they’re 30, I know it. The Husband is happy, in his element as a trainer of swordsmen, teaching the boys to be the best at what they do. I watch them for a while before calling them in to dinner. The boys have already done their homework and are ready to go out for the night. I gladly give them the keys to Husband’s car and send them off so Husband and I can curl up on the couch together and watch a movie.

It was interesting to think of what I really want. At first I thought I wanted when the boys got older was to go back to fieldwork (archaeology), but what I really want now is to own a dance studio. All ATS, all the time. And I still want the SCA to be part of our lives. I really don’t want a lot out of life, I guess. So that’s how I see it. No sickness, no neurological disorders, no worries about bills, just peace.