Go-Get, but Leave Room for Grace
Every family has little stories that are told again and again. I remember Mama's stories of her siblings as they were growing up on a farm in northeastern Oklahoma and those tales of my father's poor circumstances as a child in the same region. There were the stories of special teachers and of all the fellow students they knew during college years. When both of your parents are from the Midwest and one of them rose up from poverty, you learn from an early age about self-reliance and self-determination. My father's job as a professor of Animal Science put him into contact with 4-H and FFA students, as he judged livestock shows and helped with workshops. I was the only kid in my club with a 4-H project book written by my father. He always had high praise for those high-achieving students he described as "real go-getters." They were usually officers in the clubs and they spoke to adults with poise and confidence....
