Autumn follows summer and spring follows winter and with each, a brand new season emerges. Thunder follows lightning and a wet surface follows rain drops, and the earth is replenished with refreshing moisture. A new day follows nighttime and a brand new day emerges as fresh as the morning dew. With the dawning of each new day, one’s hopes of yesterday can be transformed into emerging new opportunities. For nearly all our dreams can come true; if we have the courage to open the door and pursue the emerging possibilities.

As we see it, each new day is a blank unblemished page in the diary of one’s life. As some would say, “A brand new slate.” Each day is a new dawning with emerging opportunities. The secret of opportunity is in turning that diary into the best story within one’s livelihood. And each person is the major contributing author of one’s own destiny. No matter what yesterday brought, it has passed and today is a new beginning.

For you see, we have the opportunity to design a brand new day with new possibilities. For each day has a new dawning ready to be envisioned, designed, crafted, and successfully completed. And YOU are the author.

When you think about it, this is a day one has never seen before. Its history is yet to be designed and built. One can seize the uniqueness of this day and recognize the wonderment of what this day may offer. There is an incredible amount of opportunity which one can choose to move onto the roadway of life’s journey. The chief beauty about time is that one cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, and the next hour… are all lying ready for one to use. That time is as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in your life. One is energized with the thought of the opportunity which awaits with each new breath we take, and with the possibilities that will emerge with each activity in which one will engage. For you see, each of us is the master architect of that day.

I remember it well. I was 16 at the time, and I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I mentioned it to my grandfather, and his only remark was “Robert, so you want to be a schoolmarm”? I was taken back a bit by his remark. But time moved on. And then… with a new slate (so to speak) and a new day… it was a morning in September 1947. I walked up the steps of Rockwell Hall at Buffalo State. It was my first day in College, on my way toward becoming a teacher. Four years later, Thursday, November 30, 1950 (10 n the morning to be exact), I signed my first teaching contract with the East Aurora School System.

Each of these days as mentioned above, set into motion a life of events. I have learned … sometimes the hard way, aim for success, not necessarily for perfection. It is best to never give up on your right to be wrong; for when you do, you lose the ability to learn new things and improve along the way.

Again time moved on … Elaine and I were married; it was 65 years ago. It was a life in teaching for both of us. And each day in the classroom for us, was an exciting adventure. And we remember, dreams can come true; if one has the courage to pursue them. We remember the special days of daughter Lisa and son Mark. Each day provided a joy-filled learning enrichment for the four of us. For learning is not attained by chance, but it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. And you know, the same is so true with our six growing grandchildren. What a marvelous world is unfolding of enchanted wonderment

And now in retrospect, we have found that many of our dreams at first which seemed impossible, when one summons the will, they soon become reality. For it is not what you say you believe that makes you … it is what you do that determines your future. Like a lump of clay in the hands of the Creator, we are forever being molded each day by our will to succeed and to serve others.

For you see, each new day is as fresh as the morning dew.

Dr. Robert L. Heichberger is a resident of Gowanda and Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus SUNY Fredonia.