Perseverance

About six months ago, I got to talking with a woman from the pre-school. She was telling me that she had recently split from her husband; she had three kids, her maternity leave for her baby girl was almost due, which meant returning to her job in the supermarket.
She didn't think she could survive on that wage with a young family, and said she needed to look to the future and start building the foundations to a better life for her growing family; something she could do when they were all in school full time. Her solution - to return to school and attempt to gain an accounting degree....full-time.
When she told me all of this, my eyes became as big as dinner plates, because I attempted full-time study with ONE kid, and couldn't do it - mind you I had a newborn.
I asked her if she had ever studied before. "Oh yes", she informed me, she had done pre-med, but abandoned that career path in preference for "a life", she said. She went on to tell me that she had spent many years of soul searching since those days". She was obviously no fool.
Well the accounting thing lasted a semester, which is a pretty tremendous feat in itself, if you ask me. She said it was exhausting with the three kids, but passed each of her subjects with marks of 90%+ . I was flabbergasted, and in awe of this woman...she REALLY appeared to be wonder woman.
She did decide to take a break from study this next semester, because she found that the reality of surviving with three kids on a student loan was just a tad unrealistic..."their little faces". So she got a job.
I have learnt that this incredible person is also extremely creative and is into scrapbooking. She has even been approached about publishing her pages in magazines.
She got herself a 4-days a week job in a scrapbooking shop. She was happy to have the money, but was again, exhausted after a full day at work and then the three kids. I helped her out by taking her middle child to pre-school with us on the days she required, and her best friend would watch the kids after school.
She told me the other day that she was thankful to have the job, but again, could see no future beyond what she already had, which was basically a low paying cashiers position. She said the prospects of a low paying job with no benefits moved her to suck it up once again, and persist with her accounting degree.
This morning at pre-school, she tells me (beaming she was), that she has been "offered an accounting position" - already! "The job is only two days a week", she informs me, "but the pay is double her current job". She will lose nothing by reducing her hours to spend more time with her kids". I was so so happy for her.
She gave me hope. She has been doing it tough for a long time, and it seems her hard work is paying off; she had a vision and it is materialising. It just goes to show, when we hope and pray, visualise and believe, the universe will work just as hard to ensure that these energies bear fruit ... if this is the higher will.
Her story has inspired me to dream loudly, dream vividly, let it go from mind but not from heart, and take small steps toward these aims. Anything.... is possible.