Don't Dream It's Over

There is freedom within, there is freedom without
Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup
There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost
But you'll never see the end of the road
While you're traveling with me

Don't Dream It's Over

I wheezed my little wheeze and coughed uncontrollably until my lungs hurt.

My innocent elementary school heart sunk.

Mother came in and told me:

You're staying home today.

But the concert! My last school choir concert is today!

You are too sick Kathryn.

I was going to dance for them.

I was going to get a chance to shine and prove I was somebody.

I missed that concert.

The dance looked odd without me.

People knew someone was missing.

Fast-forward

My last Christmas dance recital:

Kathryn I'm picking you to be the lead!

This is it!

It's finally my time to shine as Sleeping Beauty in Ballet!

BOOM.

The week before my recital an airbag shattered my world and demolished my right eye.

Sleeping Beauty had to stay in the hospital during the recital.

Invisible

My first high school musical production:

Kathryn, due to your injury, I have to put you in the back row since you can't dance.

You can't be in these scenes.

Moving onto spring:

I came back to finish my ballet studies.

Kathryn we aren't going to put you on pointe.

We don't want to risk you injuring yourself.  Especially after that car crash.

You'll have to wear regular ballet slippers for the spring recital.

My pointe shoes are still in my bedroom.

Shiny pink and silky

New

Barely warn

Now today.

Slap

Today I lost my teaching job.

A job I thought I'd shine in...

All my life I've come so close to lighting up the world just for a moment.

My chances are always taken away.

If I make a mistake I am never given any chances to prove myself.

I'm still not giving up.

If I dream it's over, I will have nothing.

I will be nothing

There is a man named Cory.

He was one of my favorite actors. He played Finn Hudson on a television show.

His demons got the best of him and he died of a drug overdose a few years ago.

Shortly after he passed away, I was traveling on a bus in Ireland.

I was thinking about him.

I don't know if you believe in angels or signs but I do.

I wondered if the dead know when we are thinking about them.

Then I wondered if Cory knew he was on my mind.

I thought: Wouldn't it be cool if the dead sent some kind of sign to us?

To let us know they know we're thinking of them?

I looked up to the sky.

That's when I saw it.

The most beautiful cloud.

This wasn't an ordinary cloud

It was a perfectly shaped heart.

I'll never forget it.

Now whenever I'm down, or upset, or nervous about something...

If I ever feel I have no hope left...

There is always a heart that appears.

Sometimes it's on a leaf.

Sometimes a cloud.

Sometimes it's a rock, and other times it's on food.

Hearts appear to me in anything.

It's really quite extraordinary!

Don't Dream It's Over was one of  Cory's last songs on Glee.

It came on my ipod today when I was struggling to find some kind of song that would give me comfort.

Thanks Mr. Monteith.

I know you're there.

My chance to shine is still coming.

Only God knows when...

but it's definitely coming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZgqtV1eDYg