Dreams can come true.

But, almost always in unexpected ways.

As far back as I can remember, through my broken memory, I have been an artist.

Drawing, drawing, drawing.

As a child, my grandfather gave me shelf-paper to draw on.

I would draw the characters I loved from Saturday morning TV and hang these drawings on my bedroom wall.

Each Sunday evening in the 1960s, there were two TV shows on back-to-back in Cleveland, Ohio, on good old Channel 3, NBC.

First, there was Lassie.

The second is The Wonderful World of Color, hosted by Walt Disney.

As a child, I dreamed of working for Walt.

I'm wondering why it was a driving force to make that happen.

Time.

Time would take me on a journey to be the best artist I could be.

After getting married, having two children, and becoming a stay-at-home dad, I returned to school and earned my degree in art and physics.

Fate.

I came so close, but fate would wash away my lifelong dream.

Other people made decisions that led to the end of 2D animation at Disney, leaving many artists out in the cold.

My dream was shattered.

A lot of crying in the shower.

Eventually, I pieced together the idea of pursuing a career in the entertainment industry, specifically in Hollywood.

It was there that I met an actor, a part-time world-class magician named Steve Valentine.

We became friends, worked together, ate together, laughed, and cried.

Steve would have get-togethers with many of the people he came into contact with.

At one early get-together I attended, I was standing and talking with two older gentlemen.

We talked about this and that, and I asked What do you do?

They both said they were musicians.

"You either love us or hate us."

I said What have you composed?

Richard said, "It's a Small World."

What?

Did you say Small World?

"You either love us or hate us."

I laughed and said Are you crazy?

Really!

You are loved!

You are Gods of music, I told them.

The two gentlemen were Richard and Robert Sherman.

They composed all the music we associate with Disney.

Chim Chim Cher-ee, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Feed the Birds, Heffalumps and Woozles, I Wanna Be Like You, Jolly Holiday, Let's Go Fly A Kite, Little Black Rain Cloud, The Parent Trap, The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down, A Spoonful of Sugar, Step In Time, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, Winnie the Pooh, just to name the tip of the iceberg of their music.

This meeting wasn't just once or twice, but over many years; we would stand and sit together at Steve's parties, share stories with each other, and eat cake.

We sat down and ate cake together.

Laughing.

Today...

Today, as I walked down Main Street at Disneyland...

I stopped by their window dedicated to the Sherman Brothers at the Music Shop.

I thought about my dream of working for Disney…

Tears came down...

I shook the hands that shook the hand of Walt.

I looked into the eyes that looked at Walt.

I laughed and ate cake with the brothers, who laughed and ate cake with Walt.

I was struck…

The universe...

The universe has a strange way of making dreams come true.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby