Actually, there is time to follow that dream. You merely won't be taking the conventional path to it, and who knows, that might be better. Here's a grand example, in Kate Elliott's husband, J. -- he always wanted to be in law enforcement, went to Police Academy out of high school, became a law enforcer and realized it wasn't for him. So J. went back to college part-time, got a degree and PhD in archaeology/anthropology, and has now done excavations in Central America. I don't remember how old he was when he got the PhD, but his kids were in junior high. He now has a job that combines both dreams, working as a forensic anthropologist in the MIA program out of Hawaii.

I'm another example: always wanted to be a writer, never got around to it till I was 38, published first novel at 42 -- and you know how that worked out. :-)

So you really don't have to give up. Sometimes all you need to do is reconsider the steps toward achieving whatever dreams you have.