Look what I can do

Ø  Look what I can do –

Remember when you were a kid and you couldn’t wait to show your mom, or dad, or grandma, or anyone who would pay attention your new found skill? Like a cartwheel or summersault. “Mommy, look what I can do” and you’d launch yourself into an awkward, twisted, attempt at a cartwheel where two hands touched the ground with your butt hiked into the sky, legs bent and dangling from a half spin into the air. Sometimes you landed on your feet some times on your derriere.

You did it whole-heartedly with enthusiasm and determination, proud in the effort and outcome even if it was no Olympic standard performance. But you did it, well you pronounced loudly “look what I can do” and you went for it. And you kept on doing it and shouting at others to watch, over and over, and over. People would give advice, and praise, and instruction, and they’d laugh or tell you it was great or that it was awful. And you’d keep at it. Eventually you were doing a pretty damn good cartwheel, solid form, athletic, artistic, balanced, smooth, well executed.

“Daddy, look what I can do” as you climbed onto the oversized bike, barely reaching peddles and wobbling as you teetered in a coast down a small hill to topple over in a heap. Leaping to your feet with a smile and full of enthusiasm, “DADDY, I CAN RIDE A BIKE!”  You’d push it back up the hill and do it all over again, and again, and again. Soon you were peddling, not coasting downhill. Soon you were steering and controlling the bike down the hill and beyond. Soon you were not bruised, scratched, battered from crashes and wrecks, you were riding a bike, and you had the scars to show for it. And it took you to new places beyond your yard and immediate surroundings. It took you to fields and back roads, to hills and valleys, ups and downs, heavy effort in peddling up hills, or going as fast as you dared, or coasting along enjoying the ride and adventure, thinking “look what I can do, look where I can go”.

Remember that free spirit and “can do” that you felt as a kid, remember the excitement and enthusiasm and willingness to do new things, poorly and awkward at first, but repeated and practiced until you were able and capable and good at the thing. Remember as you grew you kept on doing new things, but maybe began telling those around you a little less often “look what I can do”. They were always still there, watching, seeing what you could do, what you did, what you accomplished, the most important of them being you.

Remember now, today, everyday, to say to yourself , “look what I can do”. DO those things and try new ones. Recall the joy and excitement of a new experience and the efforts along the way to keep at it and improve. Fall on your ass some, crash, wreck, topple over, and get back at it over, and over, and over again and say with a loud and proud voice “LOOK WHAT I CAN DO !”

> Note – this is dedicated to my lovely and inspiring wife Jacqueline. She took her desire and enthusiasm, her love for food, cooking and creating, and returned to full time school for Pastry Arts. She went beyond the minimum class work and participated in competitions, she helped classmates achieve more, she assisted a world renowned Chef prepare for International competition. She left her family and home for the summer to travel to another state to do her internship at a Five Start Hotel and Resort, and worked double the hours required for the programs base commitment. She drove the 1900 miles there and the 1900 miles home, and that first week home created and baked a three-tier birthday cake for our daughter's 16th Birthday party for 30 teenage girls. She then graduated, at 50 years young, and was awarded by her instructors for her Excellence in Commitment to Career, an honor along with her diploma and "Student of Term" pin. 

“Look what I can do” didn’t come from her lips, she is often reserved and modest about these things, even grand accomplishments. She is an inspiration and a very good example for me, for our daughters (who both have her determination, stuborness, and inate talent), and for all of us.

So here is her proclamation, on her behalf, from me,  “ Look what Y O U can do”!

Remember, you can do, then do it, and then start saying “Look what I can do” and say it with pride all along your way!