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Book Excerpt: See Your Future

Dream a Little Dream

It's 5:45 in the morning and Tom and Mary are lost in their version of the same dream. It's one they've both been having for the past few months.

Tom's dream is that he is lying in the grass beside his grandson on a riverbank. They're watching the clouds float by and comparing thoughts about their shapes. They see boats, cows, and a car. Nearby, two fishing rods rest at an angle held up by two forked sticks pushed into the ground. Their tips are pointing toward the sky. Suddenly a rod tip bends and together they yell their battle cry: Fish on. They scramble to their feet.

In her version, Mary has just finished a pastry course at a prestigious culinary institute. Two days later she is contacted to fill in at an important political dinner at a four-star restaurant. Her specialty dessert is a success; she hears the room erupt in applause. Diners are calling her name and asking her to take a bow for her creation. The restaurant owner offers her the position of head pastry chef.

The sound of the alarm clock jolts Tom and Mary awake. They roll over, say their good mornings, and then follow a ritual that began about six months ago. Each reaches into the drawer of the nightstand on either side of the bed. They pull out identical day-to-day pocket calendars, cross out today's date, and flip forward to 147 days in the future-a day that's circled in red, a day they've thought about for the last twenty years. Now, as it gets closer, they feel the rush, shake a little, and sometimes giggle to themselves.

This is their retirement day, the day they've decided to walk away from their nine-to-five jobs and begin a new life. They stare at the page on their calendars for a few minutes trying to bring back their dreams, then sigh in unison. They close their calendars and get ready to get through another day. Another day that will bring them closer to the date circled in red.