Her legs were made for writing

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. *

When she was a kid, she doodled on paper and dreamed of living on the other side of the tracks. After high school, she never dreamed of going to college because she didn't know it was an option. Instead, she married, the house grew with children and she dreamed of being a writer. For years she took care of her family, dreamed and prayed. And she wrote between diaper changes, helping with homework and taking care of her house. She wrote letters, games, journals and poems - and threw them out. Because she knew she couldn't be a writer.

She asked God to make her a writer. One day someone told her "God will never do for you what you can do for yourself". It seemed a simple consideration and provoking. The notion of achieving the same things on her own as others did never occurred to her.

After months of contemplation, she put legs on her dreams and prayers. She walked them with herself into a community campus office and requested an application for enrollment. She didn't know if she could graduate from college. She didn't know if she could be a writer. But, she put one foot in front of the other.

She became a single parent, worked a low-paying job, juggled the family's appointments, fought with housework, kid's homework, mountains of laundry and a car that always let her down. She attended night classes, came home late sighing as she kissed the faces of children often long since asleep then burned midnight oil over books and pen. She never retired the legs on her dreams and prayers. Every morning she rose and carried the dreams and prayers with her. Sometimes she thought she couldn't carry everything, but she mindfully placed one foot in front of the other.

She wrote for the church paper. She wrote for the campus paper. She won a writing award. She waved her diploma as she stepped to the other side of the tracks and hailed other dreamers over. She wrote articles and essays and children's books. She submitted to editors. Sometimes she couldn't walk her work above the ceiling, but past experience taught her she made great strides one small step at a time. 

* Quoted from Regina Brett's 45 life lessons and 5 to grow on