Today's the Day!

Welcome to my God-sized dream series! You can get caught up here.

Growing up, I recall watching the National Geographic documentary on Mel Fisher and his quest for the Atocha and it's sunken treasure. I remember being enamored by those documentaries and we watched them over and over. Mel Fisher's story is rather remarkable, although I had completely forgotten about it until recently when I heard a talk by Chris Brady on Fisher's story.
Mel was an Indiana-born former chicken farmer. After serving in World War II, he moved to California to set up a little dive shop. He was one of the first to pioneer scuba diving as a sport in the US. While running his shop and giving dive lessons, he became fascinated with exploring sunken ships for treasure. He learned of two Spanish galleons chalk full of millions of dollars of cargo that sank during a hurricane on September 6, 1622, near Key West, Florida. The treasure had been lost for four centuries. He convinced his wife and a group of friends to move to Florida to begin the search for the Atocha. 
For two years they found virtually nothing, and then discovered that they were searching in the completely wrong place! Three years in, they found what they believed to be the Atocha's anchor and a few gold bars worth thousands of dollars. 
Although they experienced a little victory, they soon ran into opposition. There is so much to the story, but let me just highlight some things quickly. 
>> The government caught wind of their small finds, and demanded that Mel pay for agents to be aboard all of his ships to ensure that none of the treasure was pocketed.  >> The media heard of Fisher's discoveries and ran a story that the treasure was planted in order for  his company to get investors.  >> Competitor treasure hunters started streaming in.  >> Mel started to run out of money, so he sold his house and moved into an old houseboat.   >> All but one of his original team members quits.  >> After five years, he found a few more pieces of treasure, and the government confiscated it...the Florida state senator flipped him off as he drove away with Mel's confiscated treasure.  >> His company was shut down several times by the government, but he kept going!  >> His oldest son was killed in a boating accident.  >>  One of his teammates runs off with some of the treasure >> Mel develops cancer
If Mel had given up at this point, would his story be worth telling? 
Every day he would say "Today's the day!" 
After 17 years of relentless searching, on July 20th 1985, one of Fisher's crews hit the mother load.  To this day, dive teams are still pulling out treasure from the ocean floor. Fisher was the discoverer of the greatest treasure since the opening of King Tut's tomb. 
If I think back on my memories of watching that National Geographic documentary, all I really remember is how cool diving for sunken treasure sounded. When I was hearing Fisher's story retold recently, I was struck by all the details of the struggle that I had forgotten! I am so inspired by this "new" story.  
Although I am not on a quest for ancient sunken treasure, I do have goals I am striving for, and dreams that I am working to achieve that - to be honest - I believe to be a lot more honorable than gold and silver. I am not condoning a life spent in reckless pursuit of temporal things, but I do admire persistence and commitment. There is something to be learned from every success story!
Do you ever look at someone who drives that nice car and has that nice house, or that couple who seems to have such a great marriage and well-behaved kids and wonder how they got there? I do! I usually find that after some research {if they are well-known} or a conversation or two with them, that their journey has not always been peachy. It usually fits roughly into this outline: 1) dream, 2) struggle, 3) victory. Sometimes I catch myself thinking "oh it must be nice to have or be this or that." "I wish I was that lucky." {Grant it, some people sport a fabulous exterior and "stuff" because they have developed a "gotta have it now" mentality and are financing their lifestyle. I'm not talking about these people...I am talking about the real success stories.} After I hear someone's journey of blood, sweat, and tears, I come away so encouraged. Because I can dream, and I can fight, so I can have victory, too. 
Today's the day!
I am linking up at holleygerth.com! 
{connect with Emily here}