I’ll Do It One Day—The Dreams That Wait

'I’m going to rebuild a hot rod one day.’

That’s one of the first things I remember my partner’s father John saying when I met him, while we desperately worked our way through topics to try and find some common ground. This wasn’t it—the closest I’ve ever come to rebuilding a car is watching Tim Allen work on his ‘33 Roadster in Home Improvement every week (yes, I just looked up the model)—but I politely tried to carry on a conversation about it anyway.

The thing I remember most about that conversation, and the dozens that followed about his dream, is that there was never any specific timeline put on it. One day. When I have the time. After I’m done working. Down the road.

This kind of thing is extremely common for me. I’ll have an exciting idea, and just think—when I have some extra time, I’d love to put some into a project like that. I bet I could even make some money doing it! What a great idea I just had!

Then, nothing.

It never happens. There’s never a real plan. No work is done. Those ideas disappear until ultimately they turn up in someone else’s hands. Darn, they stole my idea! I’ll tell myself—and anyone who happens to be willing to listen—reassuring myself that the next time I get an idea like that, I’ll make sure I do it before I miss the chance.

But there is always work to be done. There’s never time. We never get far enough down that road.

So the ideas, the dreams, the plans all sit in a discarded pile and collect dust until they eventually expire. Hoarded like ziplock bags that you ‘might need one day’, the only real thing they are doing is reminding you of the excitement they once contained.

I thought it was the same for his hot rod. Just something he talked about, a story he would tell to try and find common ground with someone else who was interested in cars. It would never happen, there would never be enough time. That is, until a random visit when John showed me you could eventually get to that one day.

May I introduce you to his 1948 Dodge truck, his one day dream.

It’s not exactly a hot rod, but as he put it—I’m going to hot-rod-it-up.

In some ways, this blog, this site itself is a product of that truck. It’s me proving that I can eventually go through on one of my ideas. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, or has trouble following through on the ideas they come up with. Sometimes you need help, a little push, some motivation.

Sometimes you just need an old rusted truck.