Taking a Chance
When I look back over my life at the
moments we call “game changers.” I can see that they only happened when I took
a chance at something outside of my zone of comfort.
One of the
most significant was when I decided to take my sister’s children for what was
supposed to be, at the most, one year; it’s been twenty.
I was
standing in my downtown Chicago condo overlooking Lake Michigan when my mother called to say
that if I didn’t take these three young kids (the baby was three months old,) then
they would end up in the system.
My mother
said that as hard as life had been for her and her 7 children, she was still
able to keep us together. This was a source of pride for her; something that
her mother had not been able to do.
I looked out over the lake and I
could not see the future, nor could I see the past; I simply was, so I said
yes.
I went from
a sports car to a van and found out that this was the way I was meant to be.
Without ever giving birth, I am a
mother of 5 and while many days have been down-right implausible, I know that
this was the right thing.
Doors have
been opened and lessons have been learned that did not occur during the other
risk taking moments; like leaving home to be the first in all of my family to
go to college.
Life requires that we leap, fly, run
head first into opportunities and choices that would not happen if we stuck to
our old patterns and ways of thinking.
Not all risks land the way we desire,
but when you jump from your heart; the outcome will eventually be in your
favor.
Be you, be well, be a
wonder.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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