A dream of Ryan’s has always been to have a boat of his own. As we approached Ryan's birthday this year, I was shopping at garage sales for baby items. With our little girl due in less than 3 months, we have lots to do. At one garage sale, I encountered what I envisioned as one of Ryan's dreams - an older sailboat, in baby blue. A year ago, based on our financial situation, I wouldn’t have even looked at it, but this year, on a whim I did. It was a 1960’s sail boat, not in great shape, but not bad shape either. The price tag said “make offer”. I knew it had been donated to the school, so there was no emotional attachment to the boat. Ryan was in class, so I texted him a photo. His response was “I LOVE IT”. 

All day I thought about this boat, wondering if we could just get the price low enough, but Ryan thought it was worth $1000 or more. Not an option, I thought. The sale ended at 4:00, so at 3:00 I went back. The boat was still there with no offers. Long story short, we got the sail boat for $100. Every time Ryan sees it, he smiles from ear to ear. 

The best part is we did not break our budget. It was his birthday gift from me, the dogs and the baby, but it was worth it. His family gave him money to take care of the licensing and minor repairs as birthday gifts. And to think a year ago it was just a dream we would have ignored. With our financial goals in place, we have achieved so much more than we ever thought possible. Set your goals, don’t be afraid to dream big, and go for it.