A Different Path

I love stories of redemption. The one where no one believes in the underdog, yet despite all odds, he surpasses everyone’s expectation and becomes someone great. From Rudy to American Underdog, these movies inspire us to overcome challenges and fight for what we believe. It’s no wonder readers love cheering for Lillie, the twelve-year-old girl who believes she can change her family’s future in Sour Lemon and Sweet Tea. After all, the book is loosely based on my life. And I am, perhaps, the underdog of the writing world; the last person anyone thought would become a published author.

I didn’t like reading until college. Reading was boring, books took too much time. I used all the typical excuses. In truth, reading was difficult. My mind wandered, and I’d forget what the passage was about. I read incredibly slow and by the time I reached the end of the book, I’d forgotten how it began. Forget reading comprehension. I could barely make it through the words.

My mom was an English teacher before I was born, and she instilled in me proper grammar and spelling. Anytime I said, “Me and her”, she’d correct me. If I didn’t spell a word correctly on paper, she’d make me rewrite the entire paper. It was tedious and challenging, and I hated every minute of it. The less I had to read and write, the better!

In high school and college, I worked hard for every grade. Nothing came easy. My sister could study for fifteen minutes and make an A. I studied for hours just to make a B. But that changed in graduate school. While writing my thesis, the professor pulled me aside. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a good writer?”

I don’t remember much of our conversation after that because I was so shocked. Whether it was my actual writing or the fact that I’d worked so hard to earn my master’s degree, I will never know. What I did know was that I was going to prove him right!

Someone believed in me and that was all I needed!

After graduation, I had a pretty miserable job where I worked all the time for pennies in order to get enough supervision hours to branch out on my own. Most of my colleagues had the same. We’d scrape by, taking the low totem pole jobs until we met the expectation. But I didn’t understand why it had to be this way. I had always been an outside the box thinker, and this was one of those times. I shared about an amazing job opportunity with a coworker where the owner of a consulting firm was willing to give me a chance to prove myself. But her response surprised me. “You can’t do that,” she said. Why not, I thought. “Because you need to pay your dues. This is how it’s always been done.”

But if there’s a different way, why wouldn’t I try? So, that’s what I did. I took the higher paying job, got my hours, and earned a better salary.

In the movie American Underdog, Kurt Warner had sat on the bench at the University of Northern Iowa for three years, never given the chance to play football. Out to prove he could make the NFL draft against all odds, Kurt never missed a practice. His coach once said, “Why don’t you just give up, son? It’s never going to happen.”

 But Kurt said, “Because Coach. If you put me in the game, I’ll prove you wrong.”

And he did over and over. No one had ever gone from stocking shelves at a grocery store to playing arena football. Until Kurt did. No one had ever played arena football and been drafted by the NFL. Until Kurt did. Even after the St. Louis Rams drafted him, no one believed he could be the starting quarterback. Except one man. The only one who mattered. Head coach Dick Vermeil.

Have you thought about giving up on your dream? Throwing in the towel, burning the manuscript you’ve rewritten hundreds of times? What’s stopping you? If I had to guess, you believe your chance will come. You believe you can do it and if they put you in the game, you’ll prove it. Most likely, you also have someone in your life who believes in you. So, what are you waiting for? Think outside the box. Maybe, just maybe, you’ve paid your dues and there is a different path waiting for you.