Some of you are very aware of an on going project I have to clean out and get rid of a 12 X 6 cargo trailer full of unused household items from both my son's last apartment, before he moved in here, and my grandmother's estate. Finishing the project has became more important to my son and I as we are working on a plan for a small home based business,(more on this another time) but feel we cannot start another project until we complete this one. It's been a long job that has included a lot of tears brought on by memories of my grandmother, and a lot of laughter at the crazy things we've found.
Today's post is about one such thing.
As Sean and I TRY to finish up these boxes from the cargo trailer today (note TRY) I came across an old calligraphy sign my husband made while in college (he’s 62 so that will tell you how old it is). This sign hung first in his dorm room and then in his apartment, and then it went to Viet Nam and back.
When Sean was young he had uncontrolled asthma, he was constantly saying “I can’t”, it didn’t help with the doctor telling him and me that he would never be able to be an active individual with his asthma being so bad. As you have probably already figured out around here “Can’t died in a cornfield” (meaning Cant was a man who starved to death in a cornfield because he decided he couldn’t get food). Gary and I both come from a long line of determined people, and we were determined Sean would not turn in to an inactive blob.
So Gary drug out this sign and hung it in Sean's room. When Sean packed for college he packed the sign and it hung in his dorm rooms and progressive homes and apartments. It had got packed up to come here and has been in the cargo trailer ever since. We came across it this morning and it’s going in our “business” office to remind us of it's meaning.
This sign has spurred us along the way more than once. When Sean, the asthmatic, decided he wanted to join marching band he told the doctor and the doctor said, well maybe if he was in the pit he could. Sean told him “My mom says I can do anything I set my mind to”, My son went on to win many competitions and a scholarship both as a member of the marching band and as an individual performer playing the TROMBONE, and other brass instruments including tubas. Can’t died in a cornfield, and he wasn’t about to be can’t.
As an adult his asthma is under control and as you know from reading my posts he's a very active adult that does ranch chores, cuts and splits firewood and lives surround by the animals he is "allergic" to. Can't doesn't live here any more.
That single sign has spurred us on many times when we felt "we can't" and helped us discover "we can" instead.
So what was this all powerful sign? It is a simple black and white sign done in a very nice display of calligraphy and it says something that could and should be a motto for all of us here. It says:
“Impossible Is Only A Word To Measure The Degree Of Difficulty”
Jan whose sign is a little battered, but will be hung again in her home office to remind her of all her goals and how to achieve them in OK
Great entry! I'd like to snag that sign's saying for my signature line now and then. May I?
ReplyDeleteYou most certainly can, I don't know where it originally came from, but it is one that needs to be shared.
ReplyDeleteJan who is waiting for the storms to hit today in OK
What a wonderful story. You need to record this and maybe put it on the back of the sign so that future generations will know of the legacy that it holds. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDelete