You Can Do It!Sidetracked Sisters

What are three words that describe me…? When you’re working on legacy writing, sometimes you want people to know how awesome you are! Come on, you can do it!!!

For this topic, the Sidetracked Sisters each prepared by thinking of words to describe the others. I even asked my daughter Aubrey to add a word for everyone. Then, when we got together to write, each of us didn’t have to be digging around for defining words, we could just sort, accept, or reject words that were chosen for us.

Motivated/Motivating

I’m thinking cheerleader here. when I was in High School, I loved being a football cheerleader. We would get together in the hallways after school and practice chants and cheers. It was exciting being part of the group to get the crowd excited about the game. But as the season wore on, those Friday night games in late October could be brutally cold!

Once, during halftime, I sat by my mom and dad in the stands to warm myself under their stadium blanket. I’ll never forget my mom’s words, “It’s not your job to be cold. Get out there and smile!”

I did and this advice serves when you need to move forward and circumstances are less than desirable.

I also embodied this trait when we (Craig, my sister Michelle, and her husband) were on my honeymoon vacation. We each chose a day adventure. My choice was to have a gourmet lunch and a guided expedition to the top of an extinct volcano on an island off the coast of Venezuela.

Now, I regularly ran and was in adequate cardiovascular shape. Michelle on the other hand…was. not. Through the dam muggy vegetation, our group trudged four hours, up, up, up the gently sloping mountain. Under roots and pulling on vines along the dirt trail. People were taking bets on who wouldn’t make it to the top–Michelle or the old guy (one other woman gave up early before the betting began).

There was no way Michelle wouldn’t make it. I carried her backpack and water bottle and stayed with her the whole way. We stopped and breathed when necessary. I was her cheerleader all the way to the top.

Dedicated

I truly believe that I can achieve anything that I set my mind to do. Dedication is simply taking baby steps toward a goal.

When I turned 50, I decided that I would run a marathon as a benchmark, a touchstone, for the second half of my life. I had 10 months to prepare. The goal was to do what only 0.01% of the world’s population has ever done…and I had to do it in less than 6 hours. Although I’m slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter, I did accomplish this feat in 5 hours and 56 minutes.

Adventurous

This is a good one. When I was a kid, I belonged to Girl Scouts. The absolute best things about the group were the “Camp Aide Training” and yearly camping trips. I would sell cookies, beg, borrow, and steal to go on these adventures.

When I got to high school, I took Spanish because I knew that there was an opportunity for a trip every 4 years–to Mexico. I don’t remember asking, but rather, I told my parents that I was going. I know that I did every fundraiser available.

Just recently, I pulled out a vision board that I put together almost 30 years ago. Front and center is a picture of a mom holding her child (we all know how much motherhood means to me) and looming large right above is a bucolic picture with sheep and a church. The saying I’ve created with the image is, “Dare to wake up…it comes from across the world.”

I’ve traveled in less than half of the states here in the US, but I’m drawn to faraway places. I’ve been to 12 countries so far and my current bucket list begins with Germany, Scotland, Italy, Greece. That’s just the beginning…

This writing kind of felt like a game. Who are you? What is important to you? How do you see yourself? Are you expanding into the person you are meant to be?

Now, come on, write YOUR thoughts down…you can do it!