Spent Memorial Day with a most extraordinary young person. Someone who so has the world by its tail it is spellbinding to watch. She has the gift of focus and concentration, self-discipline doesn't seem to be a chore to her, but rather it exhilarates, she admits to having an idea of what she wants, but isn't closed to it changing or expanding, and she's grounded in her spiritual beliefs, her own set of morals and joy of living.
She's nineteen.
I've had the pleasure of watching this young woman's life unfold since she was a day or two old. Who she is today is who she was at one, at six, at eleven and sixteen. Life was not always kind. She had some major heartbreaks and devastating set-backs that could easily have embittered her. They did hurt her, she is still singed by the pain of those disappointments, but even the little girl in her understood that she had a choice of whether or not to allow them to empower her or stifle her. She appeared to understand the power of choice and to exercise it to her better good even as a toddler.
Her personal fortitude and the sacrifices of those who love her, especially a single mother who moved too many mountains to count into the sea with her unrelenting faith and hard work, has garnered her an opportunity that is stamped in 24-karat gold with the words across it "American Dream". But it was listening to the wisdom of this young lady, witnessing the humble knowledge of what she held in her hands and her commitment to herself and to a world of other responsible people not to squander it, that was mesmerizing.
She's already contributed a lifetime of selfless service; community volunteer, educational mentor to children and adults, mayor of an urban branch of the Boys and Girls Club, diplomat for an organization that was instrumental in giving bright, talented young people like her "keys" to a better life, and it's ingrained in her to continue to give back whatever, whenever she can. She loves life, she lives life everyday to its fullest possible extent. And when you spend a beautiful, breezy late May afternoon on a porch with her you cannot help but be inspired to try to do the same.
