The Story Behind "Hopeful Dreamer"

I’ve recently been asked about the name/term “Hopeful Dreamer” so for this post I thought I’d attempt to explain it. 

My grandpa, or to my boys, papa, was one of the most AMAZING men and such an important person to everyone in our family. After he passed away, December 9, 2017, I knew in my heart that I was going to get a tattoo (my first) to remember him by. I decided to make copies of his journal entries from his time in the Navy and his years in ministry, with the help of my cousin Amber, to get ideas. My grandpa was a preacher, and if he brought me (and my cousin Amber) up during one of his sermons it was ALWAYS to reference that we had inherited his “dreamer trait”. We were dreamers just like our grandpa and I LOVE that we share this trait. So, I knew I wanted the word “dreamer” to be a part of my tattoo. The word “hopeful” was always a word he used to describe me, so that came easy. When I was going through thyroid cancer and found myself in a deep depression, I had a conversation with my grandpa that I’ll never forget, it went something like this,

“Sarah, you are the most hopeful person I know. Everything you’ve been through these past couple of years is proof that God has a bigger need for you here on Earth. He isn’t ready to welcome you home in heaven yet, and neither am I. Hold on to that hopefulness of yours so you can find that reason. You have a lot more living to do sweetheart.”

I was 14 years old, and my grandpa gave me back my hope that day, without even knowing it. SO… I started cutting out letters to spell out “hopeful dreamer” in my grandpa’s handwriting (which wasn’t easy since his handwriting is super messy) and I emailed my idea to a local tattoo artist that my friend recommended. The end result was AMAZING. I chose the inside of my left arm and I will NEVER regret getting it. So that is the shortened version of the story about my name, Hopeful Dreamer.