In Five Years

I had an interesting experience leaving work on Friday. The kind of experience that makes me feel good about some of the choices I’ve made, and the direction I’m heading in with my life.

To start, what led to the encounter was the license plate I have on my car, as seen here:

I sometimes get a hard time about it, because people read it as “Dr. M Big” and for some reason think it’s hilarious. Of course, that’s not what it says, but my experience will illustrate that.

So, Friday afternoon I head out to my car as usual and start leaving the parking lot. As I’m heading out there’s a guy standing to left that’s waving me over. Not really sure what to think about it, I pull up next to him and put my window down.

“What’s up?”

“You’re the guy I’ve been waiting to meet!”

(ummm… what?) “Oh yeah? What can I do for ya?”

“Your license plate… means Dream Big, right?”

“Yeah” (????)

“I wait out here a few minutes each time I come to the gym to see if I can catch you leaving. You see, I saw the plate a couple months ago and took a picture of it with my phone. Since then, every time I look at my phone I am reminded to keep pushing and keep dreaming. Bruce Willis was filming a movie in Boston this summer, and I wanted to go out for a part. Whenever I had doubts about it or was unsure if I should, I just looked at my phone, saw ‘Dream Big’ and told myself I could keep going. Well, I got the part. So I wanted to tell you that you were an inspiration, it was my daily reminder to keep dreaming and that it could happen. I just wanted to say thank you.”

“Hey, congratulations man! That’s great!”

“Why did you get that on your plate anyway?”

“For that exact reason. Every time I go somewhere, I’m reminded to keep dreaming, and to keep reaching for the dream.”