With Thanks to Tara!

"We grow great by dreams."

Woodrow Wilson was referring to our capacity to dream, but it could be also said of the impact of individual dreams. At least in my experience.

One of the greatest changes in how I act came about because of one dream, dreamt over 45 years ago.

It was the summer between 8th grade at BACS & freshman year at ANC. In the dream, I was talking to a classmate who always seemed to have friends buzzing around her.

"How do you connect to people?"

"It's easy," was her reply. "When I see someone I don't know, I just go up, smile, reach out my hand & say, 'Hi! I'm Tara Synnestvedt. Who are you?'"

What a crushing blow to awake & realize it was only a dream. But it got me pondering...

It might "only" have been a dream, but it was good, downright brilliant advice. Give it a try!

But who to try it on? My classmates knew me already, at least the me that had, in spite of pleasant mannerisms, been quietly & effectively anti-social since March 1959.

That left - who?

Ah... I was about to enter a new school. One that included boarding students!

Even though I was only a freshman, I made a point of introducing myself to each & every Glenn Hall resident.

"Hi! I'm Elsa Lockhart. Where are you from?" proved an easy introduction.

Turns out my sunny smile was golden to Glenn Hall gals missing younger siblings. Especially the incoming Juniors (back then, it was rare to have anyone younger than Juniors in the dorms). To many of them, I was a ray of back-home sunshine.

I've been baking for the dorms - Glenn & Stuart, Childs & Grant - for almost 50 years. Through most of those years, the connections were pretty tenuous - light touches rather than strong bonds. Had enough confidence for a smile & outreach, but not enough to go deeper. But it all laid the groundwork for the genuine friendships that would come!

Little did I realize it what power small acts - a smile as we passed during school, sitting around the Glenn Hall office (the gathering room), bringing a plate of freshly baked cookies, inviting a few girls to a home-cooked Sunday dinner - had for many young people far from home & family, some without a single relative or family friend in Bryn Athyn.

I know it now, because I hear it every Charter Day from people now reaching Medicare age who spot me & seem to turn back into the high school students of long ago.

"Thank you for (fill in the blank) back when I was in the dorm!" is something I've heard for decades. It was why I decided at my 20th reunion to start doing something special for the "Class of '70" dorm kids - children of classmates or friends or came from Australia (an automatic qualifier) or had some other special connection back to me. I'd drop off something to Glenn or Childs Hall about once a month, just something to let them know someone was thinking about them.

Stopped doing that a few years back. Not needed anymore, thanks to Lindy Bochneak's wonderful Dormie Warmie initiative which helps foster ties between Glenn Hall & "settlement" families, helps make our high school dorm students feel visible & valued.

These days, my attention is taken up with the college. For several weeks, I used the College Cafe as a distribution point for my Whoopie Pie Sliders (I got to feed students & the cafe got the profits), but last week that ceased to be an option (I use a licensed kitchen, but lack the required vendor's license). Am now back to leaving plates of nibblings in the Pendleton Hall Commons, with a note from "Aunt Deev". The beat goes on.

Countless connections from one dream. What dreams may come? I have no idea. But I look forward to them. And am forever grateful for the dream state Tara who shared such wondrous advice!