My 10 Year Old daughter had a field day – of sorts – last Friday. I wanted so badly to be at her event to cheer her on but was out of town in Chicago (If you watched the news on Friday, I was sitting in a plan on the runway for two hours – O’Hare had closed due to a plane on fire).
Speaking with her the night before her field day, she told me that she would be climbing a Rock Wall and would be scared – ” I really need you there daddy”. She had tried to climb these rock walls on several occasions last summer, without ever making it to the top to ring the bell (The preverbal trophy) and she wanted me there to encourage her. Not being there to support my daughter, broke my heart and I started thinking of ways to be there with her in spirit.
She needed something from me more than a “You can do it” and it dawned on me. My father had a poem taped on his desk from as far back as I can remember. To this day, I have it within view in my office at work and at home. Not sure if my father knows how much it inspired me but it did and continues to remind me that I can do it. I asked my daughter to go into our home office and read the poem. Here is the poem:
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out.
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are –
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.
I am attaching a picture of my daughter making the top of the rock and ringing the bell. She didn’t quit and I am proud of her! It is always the small things that matter most in life!
Happy Monday!