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Last night I took my wife out for dinner and a movie. We had a nice sandwich at Arby’s (we rarely, if ever, go there so it was a special treat) and then we went to the “Dollar Theater” (we call it that) and watched the movie “Astronaut Farmer“.

The plot is pretty simple… a guy dreams of going into space all of his life – enough to build his own rocket (he’s smart…) – and then everyone in his town calls him crazy, and tries to squash/stop his differentness. Even the federal government steps in and tries to put down this “dreamer”. Some of the story was predictible, but actually, there were many moments in the movie that surprised me. It was just a great story of a guy who didn’t give up on his dream, and who loved his family (and whose family loved him) and… it was just great.

I told Jen as we were leaving that there were “so many parts of that movie that I identified with.” From the guy being a husband and a dad, to him taking his kids out of school to “home school” for a while, to mostly the part where he’s different from everyone else, and not afraid to dream and do things that are bigger than most might attempt. The very clear pciture painted of the goverment (from the FBI to the FAA to even Child Protective Services) was that they (the experts) know best, and everyone else should just get in line. I know that’s just a broad-brush approach, and not every individual thinks that way, but that was the one part of the movie that left me a little sad. That is definitely the direction we have chosen to go as a country, as a culture, and it will lead to our eventual demise.

(Those were strong words, but I did say “eventual”…) 🙂

I highly recommend the movie. Click the movie poster above to view the trailer. And I recommend that you don’t give up on your dreams. No matter how you might have failed, no matter what other people tell you about it… just do it. It was a cool, inspiring movie, and a great message. You are you. Do what you do, baby! (NFL fans will catch that reference…) 🙂