Inspiring Me

Great quote, but sorry it's not such a great picture. Today's theme for Inspiration Monday over at Two Birds is what's inspiring us. The holidays always cause me to get a sentimental and to think of family even more than I usually do, and a trip to see my great Aunt last night kicked that into high gear. My Aunt Katie is my mom's aunt. My mom never had a great relationship with either of her parents, and and I would say it's pretty safe to say that my mom spent as much time as possibly with Aunt Katie when she was growing up. My Aunt Katie was never able to have her own children, but what she did have was an incredible husband for 63 years (can you imagine?!).

My Aunt Katie is inspirational enough on her own: her neighbors love her and look out for her like she's one of their own, she's hilarious, you're always guarenteed to have fun when you're around her, and she's incredibly generous and kind. But what really has me inspired is the relationship she had with her husband Bob. This Friday will be 2 years since he passed away, so last night (and any visit really) had some reminiscing. She talked about the love letters he used to write her when  he wasn't with her and he missed her, about how they were able to always talk things out with each, and about the incredible patience amount of patience he had.

That patience he had was pretty apparent when you read his favorite quote listed above. My aunt had the quote written in his obituary, and after reading it, I wrote it on a sticky note and taped it to my computer monitor at work. (the picture above is the sticky note!) My previous job certainly had its' rewards, but I was in grad school for Academic Advising at the time and was anxious to be done and in a new job. At that point I had 2 more semesters of school left, and it ended up taking me a year after that to finally find the new job I had been wanting. That whole time, that quote stayed taped to my computer at work. 

There's a lot you can take away from that quote, but for me it means stay focused, work hard, and you'll achieve your goals. No matter how much you may think you deserve it, don't expect instant gratification. It may take you way longer than you want it to, but it'll be worth it in the end. I would've loved to hear him give his perspective of the meaning of that quote, but you know what, I think he'd be pretty happy with my version too...