“I had an awesome dream.”

This is one of those posts entirely spontaneous with no clear cut direction that I hope rides a wave of momentum spurred on by the great 80’s jheri curl of one Lionel Brockman Richie Jr.  The lyrics quoted above have always stood out to me every time this song has played since it’s debut over 30 years ago in 1985.  Lionel didn’t just have a dream, he had an AWESOME dream.  Occasionally when I have a dream I can actually remember I will tell my wife… ‘I had a dream… no, I had an awesome dream!’ just to pay tribute to one of the great voices and lines from an 80’s song.

It’s very applicable in your everyday life as well:

I had a lunch… I had an awesome lunch…

I had a customer phone call… I had an awesome customer phone call…

I had a bathroom break… I had an awesome bathroom break…

Try it sometime.  Though I love the lyrical line, the song is not my favorite Lionel song by any means (“Stuck on You” solo and “Sail On” with The Commodores hold those honors), and the lyrics are, well, corny at best, but the sentiment and the actual message are solid.

“It’s time to start believing oh yes.  Believing who you are.  You are a shining star.”

This song was featured in the commercially successful movie “White Nights.”  Remember that movie?  Me neither, but that’s only because I never saw it.  Oh I’ve seen bits and pieces on cable tv through the years, but I’ve never sat through an entire showing of it.  I was only 14 when the movie debuted and it was about a couple of shining star ballet dancers (Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov) as far as I knew.  It wasn’t ever going to be very high on my “must see” list.

No offense to ballet dancers, but it just wasn’t my thing back in 1985

Dancing movies were big in the 80’s.  You had the hit movies like “Footloose,” “Flashdance,” and “Dirty Dancing,” and you had a slew of other dance movies as well like “Grease 2,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “Breakin’,” “Fame,” and “A Chorus Line” just to name a few more so there was nothing unusual at all about a film starring two really good ballet dancers.

“As we go down life’s lonesome highway.  Seems the hardest thing to do is to find a friend or two.”

Is life really a lonesome highway?  Depends upon what stage of life you’re in I guess, but I haven’t been on too many lonesome highways in my life.  I’ve been on a few, but for the most part highways are noisy, crowded, and obstacle-infused death-traps that I loathe.  But finding a friend or two?  I don’t think it’s the hardest thing to do, because we were made for relationships.  Now, to have good ones may take a little more work and can definitely be hard at times, but I also believe these relationships are the best things about our time on this planet.

I write about relationships and friends a lot on this blog.  It’s probably because the subject matter is so important to me, and in my opinion, what make life so worth getting up everyday with an expectancy and an anticipation as to what lies ahead.  We experience all kinds of joys and pains in life, and we need those relationships because they make the pain a little less painful and the joy a little more joyful.

“Say you, say me it for always.  Oh that’s the way it should be”

I will say it for always, Lionel!  This song, that line about having an awesome dream, the movie I never saw, some of the best hair of the 80’s, a #1 hit, an Academy Award and  Golden Globe award-winning song.  I’m thankful for it all, and I’m thankful for the music of Lionel Richie.  The video for “Say You, Say Me…”

Remember that you are a shining star, and be thankful for all of those wonderful relationships you have, you have had, and you are going to have, because that is what is really important.

Have a great day.  No, have an AWESOME day!

sincerely,

the 80’s