Dream as Big as You Can

Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength. ~ Unknown

I am writing this late in the evening but I wanted to sit down and empty my head. This day has been incredibly long, even if it was a day off. I started with a physio appointment where my therapist was thrilled at how well I am doing. The journey of my back and leg pain is never ending but I have never given up on believing that I can be better than I am. Today was a reminder that I continue to make improvements.

From there I went to visit my parents and talked a little about my uncle and where they were at with his death. After that I ran a bunch of errands before ending up at my sister-in-laws sister’s place to drop off some supper and flowers and talk about the death of their sister. I managed to spend a few minutes with my brother and his wife as they were arriving just as I was leaving. I can definitely feel the pain of this family as they mourn the death of their sister. The above quote made me think of her as she had a challenging life. Click on a story about her at this link http://winnipegwomen.net/features/108-beautiful-women-2009-p3 and read about a woman who did not give up on herself or the young people with whom she worked.

I zipped home to change before heading off to convocation at Red River College for the first Deaf Studies Program for Educational Assistants. It is a program that I helped to establish and never stopped believing that it was a worthwhile program. I am so proud of these women who were our guinea pigs in attempting to train urban and rural signers who already worked in the educational setting. The program was grueling but twelve of them completed the course successfully with three more to finish it in the next term. Each of them could have given up at several junctures but that was too easy for them. They held it together when they drove back to their home communities late at night, half asleep and got up the next day and went back to work. They gave up time with their husbands and children. They sacrificed a summer off and took a six-credit university course in the evening. They did not limit themselves with thinking “at my age, I never thought I would go to College” because they did go to College. They struggled at learning the language and culture. These are strong women of whom I am exceptionally proud. Not only did they complete the program, the majority of them finished with honours and many of them want to continue on with their studies. God bless them!!

Driving home, I reflected on the fact that against all odds, these twelve students got their certificate because I would not let go of the dream I had for them to improve their skills. In many ways, that dream morphed into seeing women become proud of who they are and what they accomplished. Another outcome of my tenacity was watching these women fall in love with interpreting. I am tickled that happened.

As much as the weariness has settled in, I feel as if I have had a lesson in not giving up today. I have seen the rewards of that in so many ways and as dog-tired as I am, I can also feel the strength in my most inner being. If you have a dream, believe in it! Go for it! Don’t give up.