Goals

Cydney loves to play soccer. It’s been one of her favorite games to try to play for the last seven months or so. I’ve been taking her to the field on Saturdays to informally introduce her to the game, watch the kids play, and encourage her interest so that she can begin to take lessons when she turns three in the spring. She’s so into it that when we’re inside she likes to kick the ball into a box and yell “GOAL!” I was flipping through channels last night and when she saw a soccer game on she made me watch it. Mind you, I only know the basics but I’m going to have to learn.

About two weeks ago, we were at the soccer field kicking the ball around. In true Cydney fashion, she wanted to run from where we were playing to the big field. We set up shop by one goal and I told her to kick the ball into it. After one goal and playing with the net for two minutes, I set the ball up at the top of the penalty box told Cydney to kick. She turned around, and wanted to kick the ball the other way to the goal. I got my camera out and took pictures of her doing this. This little girl who is three feet tall was determined to kick the ball about eighty-two yards across the field until she scored a goal. She ran, panted, and let off a grunt every time she kicked the ball. Young and full of energy she didn’t seem to get winded at all. I’m sure she was, but that didn’t matter…she just had to get there.

That made me think. I looked at my little girl making her way across this large field metaphorically. Eighty-two yards to me is pretty far so to Cydney that has to be really far. Nonetheless, she had something she wanted to accomplish; a goal. While she may have possibly struggled to get there nothing her body language showed that she was fatigued or overwhelmed by the task that she set out for herself. Nothing mattered but kicking that ball to it’s destination. I asked her if she was sure that this is what she wanted to do. I even discouraged her by telling her to try to kick the ball to the goal that was a much shorter distance. Nope. Cydney was so pleased with herself after she accomplished the task she set out for herself.

Watching my daughter do this inspired me. I have a few professional and personal goals. Some of which I had been asking myself if they were even worth pursuing anymore or have I idealized situations and circumstances that were unrealistic from the start. The path to some of these destinations have obstacles in them, some of them are taking longer to achieve than I planned on. The one that I know is the most worthwhile and rewarding requires so much endurance that its changing me into a completely different person for the better. I’m not a quitter, nor am I one to have illusions of grandeur (contrary to some peoples’ opinions). I know what I am capable of and my own worth and my aspirations reflect that.

Watching my daughter set out on what looked daunting gave me all the reaffirmation that I needed to keep at it. Her existence is proof of what I can accomplish when I male my mind up to press on. Nearly five years ago Timile and I broke up. She moved back to Virginia, had another boyfriend, and all we did was fight. It seemed like things were over. I was living in Atlanta and after being laid off, I was to paying bills with temp jobs doing everything from bussing down motorcycles to selling insulation for houses. I gambled like hell: I’d made the deposit for her to have her own apartment, got her a job interview, and sold almost all of my gold jewelry to put a couple hundred dollars in her pocket and was going to let her have her life with whoever she was with at the time. It worked out and she moved back to Atlanta. After we got back together she asked me how did I know all of this would work. I told her “When I make my mind up about something, only God Himself can stop it from happening.”

Looks like I passed that on to Cydney…and she reminded me that I did. Keep working towards your goals.