The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of: When Childhood Imagination Becomes Reality
- Daisa Morgan
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
Have you ever looked back on a childhood memory and realized it was quietly shaping your future all along? That the stories you once created as a child were actually guiding you toward something real, something waiting to unfold? For me, it all started with a simple English class assignment that I never could have imagined would come full circle decades later.
A Classroom Assignment That Planted a Seed
During my Secondary School years, English Literature, Music, Religious Education, and History were my favourite subjects. I loved words, stories, and the emotions they could create. But there was one lesson that changed everything. Our teacher gave us the title: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, and asked us to write a story around it. It was an invitation to let my imagination run free, and I embraced it with all the enthusiasm of a young storyteller.
I don’t have the notebook anymore, that was lost somewhere in the twists and turns of life, but I remember my story was filled with Kindness, Blue skies, Talking animals, Bright, joyful colours. At the time, it was just a story, a world that existed only in my imagination… Or so I thought.
Decades Later… My Childhood Story Became My Reality!
Fast forward to many years later, and I found myself living in an eco-community in Scotland. It was a place where sustainability and nature went hand in hand, and the beauty of the world around me felt almost otherworldly.
Then, something truly remarkable happened.
My actual postal address? The Field of Dreams.
My home? A timber house, painted in the exact colours I described in my childhood story, sky blue and sunshine yellow. I had unknowingly stepped into my own dream, one I had written decades earlier in that classroom. It was as if my younger self had whispered a roadmap to my future, without me even realizing it.
The Birth of Fingley World
Living in this magical home, surrounded by nature and a like-minded community, something new began to take shape… Fingley World. The stories I had carried in my heart since childhood began to find their way onto paper. The characters, the landscapes, and the lessons woven into Fingley all came from a place deep within me, built on experiences, dreams, and memories.
One of the most unexpected inspirations?
The Filter Critter.
This quirky, lovable character was inspired by something truly incredible, the Living Machine, an eco-friendly sewage filtration system housed inside a huge greenhouse-like structure.
Inside this remarkable system, a series of tanks, filled with bacteria, algae, plants, snails, and fish, worked in harmony with nature, filtering dirty water into something clean and pure, without the use of chemicals.
So, I created The Filter Critter, a character who, just like this real-life system, takes in the bad and transforms it into something good, a reminder that nature itself is the greatest magician of all.
Dreams Have a Way of Finding Us
Looking back, I realize that our childhood dreams never really leave us. They shape us, guide us, and, if we listen carefully, they reveal themselves in unexpected ways.
The dreams I had as a child, of a world full of kindness, magic, and imagination, were not just fleeting ideas. They became the heart of Fingley World, a place where stories live and grow, just as I once dreamed.
What Dreams Are Guiding You?
I wonder, have you ever looked back at a childhood dream and seen how it has woven itself into your life? Have you unknowingly stepped into a story you once imagined?
What are the dreams that still whisper to you today? Because the stuff that dreams are made of doesn’t just disappear, it’s always there, waiting for you to notice.
Let’s celebrate those dreams together.
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