Determination

When Doc was a little boy, he was full of energy..,. hyper would be a good word to describe him.  His Mom and Dad were becoming very frustrated and exhausted from chasing him around, trying (unsuccessfully) to keep him under control. 

One day they came up with an idea.  His Dad took an old and dull saw out and sawed it into a log in their yard just enough so that it would be able to be pulled out, and he told Doc to go out and saw that log until it was cut in two.

This little 3 year old boy excitedly ran outside and went to town sawing back and forth on that log with so much focus and determination that an Olympic athlete would be envious. 

His Mom and Dad watched from the window enjoying the quite in the house that they were confident would be very short lived.  They were sure that he would get burned out, or frustrated with his lack of progress. 

They were wrong.

That little boy worked on that log for days on end until he had cut that log in two!

It was then that his parents realized that when Doc decided to do something, he was going to work and work no matter how hard the task, or how long it took, he wouldn’t quit until he reached his goal.

I guess there are attributes that we are truly born with, because nothing has changed in the 30 years sense the day he sawed that log in two.

He is still sawing on logs.  Not literal logs, but the metaphorical ones. 

He now has a chain saw for the literal logs.

But as for all the other hard and long tasks in his life he is still just as diligent and determined to accomplish the task that is placed before him. 

For the entire 11 years that we have been married he has been in school, and once he decided that he wanted to go to medical school he has been doing nothing but working toward that goal of becoming a doctor. 

He has wanted to quite many times, but he knows that 10 years are going to come and go one way or another… the question is… where do you want to be at the end of those 10 years?  As hard as this is, as exhausted as we both are, as stressful as this field is, he has kept his eye on his goal, and is determined to saw this log in two.

He is a great example to me and our children.  Shoot… I have a hard time finishing the dishes many nights!  But Doc is always so good at finishing every task he starts, whether it’s cleaning a room, fixing a car, painting a project, or getting a doctorate degree I know that if he puts his mind to doing something, he will get it done.

I’m amazed at his determination.  And I’m grateful to be married to such a man.