Showing Up One Day at a Time

There’s an old saying that opportunity is often missed because it comes disguised in overalls and looks like hard work. If that’s true, then I must have been born wearing overalls.

My life isn't flashy, but at 64, I get to wake up in the morning, enjoy a slice of raspberry bread pudding, sip hot coffee, and lose myself in a good book. I can go for a long walk alone, meet friends for lunch, or create something wild and wonderful with the slow stroke of a brush and some fresh paint. Some people might call that luck.

Maybe there’s a little luck in all our stories. But I know this life, my life, was built with grit and hard work... one day at a time.

I was young and in love when I became unexpectedly pregnant at 19. We made a tough choice and both of us left college before finishing our freshman year at Penn State. We got married and set out to build a life together. He went to work fulltime for Denny's and, to help pay the bills, I did whatever parttime work I could find. I waited tables, babysat, decorated cakes, arranged flowers, wrote countless articles for the Lifestyle section of the Lancaster Newspaper, and even ran my own home-cleaning business -- Maid for You.

Life was good but it wasn’t always kind.

I endured the heartbreak of losing two babies, survived a serious back injury that had me bound to a wheelchair, and was the victim of an unspeakable crime. There were seasons, so many, when money was tight, the future felt uncertain, and giving up would have been easier than pressing on.

But we kept going.

While working and raising four children, I returned to school. Course by course, year by year, I earned a degree in English Education and became a middle and high school English teacher. A few years later, I completed my master’s degree and, after spending my days in the classroom, my afternoons with my children, I taught college courses at night.

After four more years in a doctoral program, I published my dissertation and, in 2013, I earned my doctorate in Educational Leadership. I continued teaching at the high school and eventually moved into administration after sixteen wonderful years in the classroom.

My husband worked just as hard. Together, we saved, invested, lived frugally, bought clothes at yard sales and Goodwill, and made countless sacrifices. More than once, we were told we would never make it.

Still, we kept showing up.

Today, after 45 years of marriage, we still hold hands, and laugh, and find happiness in the simple pleasures of day-to-day living. Not because life has been easy, but because we have walked through the hard seasons together. We built a life rooted in love, commitment, perseverance, and gratitude.

Our children are grown, and we are grateful for the relationships with have with each of them. We are proud of the good people they are and the productive lives that they are living. They have blessed us with eleven amazing grandchildren. I am retired now, spending my days writing, teaching occasionally, practicing yoga daily, and celebrating the publication of my first novel.

This isn’t a story about success.

It’s a story about resilience.

It’s about ordinary people facing grief, hardship, setbacks, and disappointment—and choosing, again and again, to take one more step forward.

And sometimes, if you keep taking those steps long enough, you wake up on a quiet June morning. You pour a cup of coffee, open a good book, and realize that the life you once dreamed about is the life you are living.

Not because it was handed to you.

Because you built it.

One day at a time.

So many of you reading this are my friends. Old friends from long ago or reconnected. New friends stepping into my life when I needed you most. I know you too have endured hardship, grief, and suffering. I’ve watched your resilience, the strength you’ve pulled from places you didn’t know you had.

The thirteen‑year‑old me would be surprised by what I’ve accomplished — but I am equally in awe of you. Give yourself grace. Look in the mirror and recognize what you’ve done well and how much you’ve overcome to become who you are today. Write it down and share it with me - I see you, and you are incredible!

And if you’re in a season of building, as I once was, I hope you keep going too.