Yes, I Can!
I was told very early on in my life not to try doing things because I wasn’t very bright. My mother was always correcting my use of the English language. My father was always telling me that I would never do well in math and to just give up. Even one of my teachers made fun of me in front of the whole class because I couldn’t do my timetables. She made a comment that made all the children laugh at me. I was so humiliated that I told my mom I didn’t ever want to go to school again. I guess I was about seven or eight years old when that happened. Then as I got older and graduated from high school I decided to go to collage. When I told my father of decision his advice to me was, “Don’t try to go to college you’ll never make it.” Well, I did go to collage anyway, right out of high school and guess what I didn’t make. But I think the reason I didn’t make it is because I was having too much fun in a sorority.
Shortly after my experiment with collage, my best friend in high school asked me to marry him. He turned out not to be a very encouraging person either. After ten years of marriage and a lot of put-downs from him, I asked him to leave. I worked for many years doing some jobs and I did well enough to support the three of us. When the children were old enough I decided that I wanted to go back to collage and learn a profession that I could earn a decent wage at. I was so excited waiting in that long line at the collage. I couldn’t believe that I was doing this even after everyone told me I was not smart enough to go to collage. Collage was hard for me, really hard! I had to study twice as hard as most students. I had to make myself study four hours a day. And I might add, my youngest daughter was still at home with me and going to school herself. I remember it being a time that I was so very poor, but some how between the Pell grants and my renting out the spare room in our apartment we made it. Yes, I Can.
Really, the best part of this story is that one semester when I was carrying a full load at collage and I thought I would never get through that semester. I, yes me, the not so intelligent one, got on the Deans List. I could not believe the letter was for me. I looked on the envelope and at the top of the letter twice to make sure there wasn’t a mistake. Yes, I Can!
To make a long story short, after I graduated from collage, I read an article in a magazine that was about dyslexia. The article had a test at the end of it and I took that test. You guessed right, I was, I am, and will always be dyslectic. I cried and cried after I read and took that test. After all these years I finally found out why I was “not so bright”. Why did I have to go through all the shame and humiliation? Yes, I Can!
This evening I’m doing something I’ve always wanted to do all my life, and that is to write. I thought I could never accomplish that goal because of my dyslexia. But just like our President Elect, Barack Obama said “Yes, We Can. And I say, “Yes I Can!”
