Dream it. Do it.

On my 40th birthday, I'm thinking about a very brave 16-year-old. Abby Sunderland is stranded in the Indian Ocean.

Alone.

She's there by choice. Abby is attempting to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo. Unfortunately, she hit a pretty bad storm yesterday and lost the mast and rigging on her 40-foot boat.

The good news is that she seems to be okay. A plane made contact with her, and a rescue boat is on its way. She's in an extremely remote location, so rescuers may not reach her until tomorrow.

I've been reading Abby's blog. She's clearly a remarkable person for her age. This trip has been her dream for several years now. Her brother actually set the record last year, soloing around the world at age 17, but an even younger English teen broke his record a month later. Here's what Abby said:

"I had begun to think that dreams are meant to be no more than dreams and that in reality dreams don't come true. Then my brother (Zac) left on his trip. It was amazing to see all the support that he got from around the world and to see how everyone worked together to help make his dream reality. Watching him do this really made me believe that I could too."

Obviously, Abby has the strong support of a family that has the resources and knowledge to back such a daring venture. Some people are calling the parents grossly irresponsible for letting their kids sail around the world alone. I can understand that sentiment, but I don't see it that way. She's been on this boat for five months now, so the girl knows what she's doing. It's not like her parents just gave her the keys and said, have fun, honey! If she did this when she turned 18 or had a crew of 20 people, would she be any safer right now?

Our capacity to dream things and do them can be taken away at any time, at any age. Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter was killed in a car crash today. She was 13. She doesn't get to dream about sailing around the world when she's 16. Or 25. Or 40. She doesn't get to dream about doing anything.

But what do you think about this?

Oh, and the photo below... that's me bungy jumping in New Zealand a few weeks ago.

I only wish I'd had the courage to do it when I was younger.