Posted by Yolanda Webb on August 26, 2009 at 11:49pm
I remember the first time I went into a meeting with the President/CEO of a major department store chain (Macy's) - where my cosmetics line was soon to be launched.I sat in my car outside the building with tears streaming down my face, a letter (tattered and yellowed) clutched in my right hand. It was a chilly March day - we had successfully completed two trials for Macy's in February and March and we would soon be going 'live' at counters in their Midwest Region.The letter was from my dad...the only letter he had ever written me (some twenty years earlier). I read it before going into the meeting. In it he reminded me of how smart, pretty, funny and kind I was. He told me in that letter how proud of me he was (I was a new mom at the time in a country - Tokyo, Japan - where I couldn't speak the language) trying to carve out a career and a life for myself.As I sat in the car that day I thought about the many women and men for that matter that I knew who had overcome tremendous obstacles in their lives. I thought about my parents and how they had left a little town in Alabama to move their family to the North for a better life. I thought about what their lives looked like and the challenges they had faced to get me where I was (about to go into a meeting with the President/CEO of one of our countries largest retailers) and I thought about the courage they had to overcome those obstacles.I owed them alot! I was the first person in my family to ever own a business (my dad was a high school principal and my mom a social worker).As I sat there in my car I remembered driving home the week before that big meeting to tell my folks about the big meeting and the contract with Macy's. My dad was living in a nursing home then..he had been stricken by throat cancer a few years earlier and also had one of his legs amputated due to diabetes. But he was still sharp as ever even though facing a number of challenges.I took pictures to him to see and the all important letter from Macy's stating they wanted me to join the Macy's family to test the brands potential. I knew he would be proud. He listened as I sat and animately told him about my 'business'...As I begin to pack up for the four hour drive back to Cincinnati he gave me a thumbs up that day (he had no voice to speak with) and then wrote on a torn piece of paper from his bed side table - "I knew you could do anything Loni - keep going you have God, me and all the courage you will ever need!"My dad died one month after i launched in Macy's. His voice silent, I would never hear it again.As I sat in the car that day, in my left hand I held the torn piece of paper with his words on them. He encourage me to do and be my best self. As I got out of the car I looked up and smiled because I knew he was there and I realized then as I do today that it was and is people like my dad who give us - their daughters- the courage to excel, to recognize our strengths and to see our own beauty.I encourage you today to be strong and hold onto your faith. Spirit is always with us and so is the encouragement of our ancestors. Live in the now, the present moment of life. For that is where God is. Rainbows follow rain, light follows dark, oceans follow deserts and resurrection follows the wilderness.E'LON means strength. You have the strength and courage to follow your dreams. Remember, "We Are More Than Enough."
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