A Change in the Forecast

A year after her grandmothers’ death, she woke up to a day of mourning. Her heart was hurt and heavy, she tried to smile for her family, but her numbness overcame all other emotions. As she closed her eyes for along pause from reality, she could feel her grandmas hugs as a tear quietly ran down her cheek. She wondered if she would always feel this way, as if she had done all she could but would constantly fall short of everyone else’s expectations of her.

As she stood there folding another load of towels, she gazed out the kitchen window at the blue sky and heard the birds chirping outside and a small light opened her eyes through her heart. She felt a warm sensation go through her veins as if she were about to have her life go from a monsoon rainstorm to the perfect warm breeze on a mid-summer day, a complete change in the forecast of life. Jane knew her life could never be what she thought her grandma would want for her, unless she changed her ‘woes me’ frame of mind to be grateful for the time they had and the lessons she had learned. From that day forward, she found herself waking up early to talk with her grandma and take small daily steps to help her feel again and break free from the numbness she felt for so long.

One day, she was cleaning a client’s home, as she did for work when she could, she started talking to her grandma, and telling her of all the things she aspired to do before her grandma was gone. Jane would tell her grandmother of all the hopes and dreams she had, and when everyone else laughed, her grandma would hug her really tight and whisper in her ear, “when you feel like the clouds will never clear, like the sun will never shine again, imagine all of the wonderful things you want to do in life, then go, write it out, precisely, in your little black prayer book, so it is permanent. These are the dreams and wishes of the heart that come true with patience, faith, and hard work. You can do anything, my dear.”

Jane took her grandmother’s advice and started writing out all her wildest goals, how she would get there and what they meant to her. Pretty soon, she started seeing life from a different angle. She started to feel alive again! One of her dreams was to open her own fitness studio to supplement her seasonal cleaning income, since Jane lived in a tiny tourist town. She became an entrepreneur managing out of towner properties, working hard on her business details to hopefully be the owner of one of the vacation rental properties one day. She realized she had no money to take on any of her dreams, whether it was helping start a gym or purchase a property, but she did know she had work ethic and great self-esteem, just like her grandmother.

So like Jane was taught, she grabbed her little black prayer book and started writing…

“…Grandma always taught me to be precise in my prayers and to pray even the biggest of prayers, so I am thanking you today for the gift of $20,000 to get started on my dream of opening a fitness studio in my small town, which will help me to save money to buy my first rental property, which would in turn set up my family for life. The initial $20,000 would go toward my training and travel, toward start up equipment and a month if not two of rent on the space. Amen.”

A couple weeks later, Jane was looking at prices for products, training, and travel when she an unexpected job come up that she had to turn down. At this point, she questioned how she could ever make her life work for her, instead of working herself to the bone for life. She looked her beautiful daughter in the eyes, like her grandmother had done to her, and promised her she could do anything in life, anything at all, so she started seeking out anything her skills matched to make these dreams come true. After all the writing she had been doing, she felt confident in a writing contest she came across. She had 3 days to submit her entry and she believe with every word she wrote that she could genuinely win, and she did!

A week after she turned in a make-believe story, that coincidently was not very made up at all, she was notified by phone that she was the top pick of entries and her $20,000 check was on its way. Bursting with excitement and gratitude, Jane drove across the state to lay a single red rose on her grandmother’s grave and write a thank you letter in her little black prayer book for always giving her hope and the courage to believe in herself, and that anything is truly possible.