Today, I am celebrating a dear woman to me. No particular reason at all. Just because. Quite frankly, it would be selfish of me not to revisit the awesomeness of this woman.

for artistic effect… I’ve left out her name… by design… you’ll see why later…

I will have a link to all the posts I’ve made in the past about this lady as well as any future post (by “interactive link”) at the end. I will also have a link to all her things online that she does.

By Design.

I knew her from a young age. I had the luxury of carrying the title of music teacher back then. I tried to teach her a few lessons about life and music. I learned very quickly about the power of a focused mind. My student, love her to bits, has a very strong will. I took notes. I never forgot the ways she challenged me and taught me so much about who I am… both then through now.

In a way, it was by God’s design that I ran into her and her family. I had to bump into massive strength to shake me up and help me tap into mine. I was at a chapter of life where I was exploring my entrepreneurial instincts and swore I had all the answers in the world.

This very young lady tested many of my assumptions and changed my approach to self-examination. I realized, at some point, I was actually the student in the school of hard knocks. And in another post, earlier in the life of this site, I wrote about how I became her student.

The transition, by design

As she reached her strides of college age, I started seeing the same things she saw in me when I was teacher her in my college years. That fierce, confident, know-everything, yet humbly learning along the way mindset. She asked a lot of questions. She tried and tested a lot of things. And she got results.

As the journey of blossoming matured, it was clear that my days as her student were numbered. I was not adding the value to her life I had hoped to, and she graciously let me off the hook. She moved on with her journey. She found her voice. She led by example.

Now, with my schooling/apprenticeship from her in full session, she continually reminded me to stop thinking I’m too old to adapt, change, and grow with technology. Not that anyone would have faulted me for that, as I was very tech savvy and very forward thinking at the time. However she was cutting edge and saw way more.

This young lady saw the death of something in me well before anyone else did… including me. She nudged. She encouraged. She prayed. She shared. She wanted this inner spirit of living to resurrect. For you see, she had seen my spark many years before and wanted me to see it for myself again.

When I tell you she was very smooth, man, she was super smooth. A lot of issues I was too scared to see, she showed me in full love and compassion only at the speed at which I could digest. I never told her how often I was touched, moved, and brought down to tears in reflection. (ok, for the record, twice I cried… and for a short period of time at that).

I saw what she was seeing and I fought hard to wake myself back up. I fought hard to find out what was missing. While she was not able to give me all the answers, she showed me all the questions. I still ask many of them today actually.

The rise by design.

Today, she’s way ahead of me. And that is totally cool. We each have our own journeys to follow and our own path. In fact, I’m very proud of the fact she leapfrogged me by a massive mile. I now have that much more incentive to keep moving… because someone I know well is going where I’m going. I can actually call and talk to her and she will know exactly what I’m struggling with. There are others who would love to coach me, but they don’t know my path.

She does.

That’s huge!

P.S… that doesn’t mean I won’t get coached by someone who doesn’t know my path. I have, and I’ve benefited a lot too. But… let’s continue with this post, shall we.