Saturday night I attended the 2009 Pink Tie Gala, and was honored with the Hope Award for Ambassadorship as a corporate sponsor for the 2008 Komen Houston Race for the Cure®.
Judge Ed Emmett, Vickie Milazzo, Marjorie Landry
Over 27 years certifying legal nurse consultants and operating a woman-owned business, I’ve been graced with many honors and awards. This one is very personal and special to me because of my Mom.
My Mom, Marise
Many of the women I mentor won’t “go for it” because of their fears. One thing that helps me go for it is perspective. My mom, Marise, gave me that. She came from Tickfaw, a small town in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, and she always dreamed of traveling. She read books that took her to the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Sistine Chapel and she planned on visiting all of them. Then she met Sal, my dad, and they married and lived in the big city – New Orleans.
My Mom and Dad, Marise and Sal
During those early, struggling years she still dreamed but often said, “When we have enough money, we’ll travel.” But then she had three children, and she said, “When the kids are grown and out of the house, then we’ll travel.”
My Family – I’m the shy one sitting on Mom’s lap
Finally, the kids were out of the house – and my mom died – at age 48 from breast cancer. Her travel dreams never came true.
Are you waiting to live your dreams? And if yes, what are you waiting for? When you get enough money? When you lose enough weight? When your business is perfect? When your spouse is perfect? Don’t wait. My mom’s death taught me that the time is now. When I’m afraid to take a risk, which is quite often, I honor my mom by asking myself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” The perspective of knowing it’s not cancer or death helps me to do the thing I fear.
It’s perfectly okay to admit that a commitment is not right for you and to reject it outright. After all, this is your life, not someone else’s.
What’s not okay is to hold back and put less than everything into a commitment that is your passion. If you want something, go for it all the way and go for it now. When you do, you’ll wake up every day to a life and a legal nurse consulting business you love. This is the message I’ve been sharing for 27 years with Certified Legal Nurse Consultants and women everywhere.
All of you know my business mission is to certify legal nurse consultants as not just the best, but the only, solution for attorneys who litigate medical-related cases. My personal mission is to see deaths from breast cancer eradicated in my lifetime. To this end I actively sponsor Susan G. Komen and support their mission to do the same. Each year an Institute team has walked (and occasionally run) the Race for the Cure®. I’ve sponsored booths, donated time, money and my book Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn’t Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now – all of it for my mother and other women who needlessly lose their lives, body parts and confidence to breast cancer.
Mom, over the years I have felt you watching out for me. Often you were laughing and smiling. I felt your tears mingle with mine. And yes, I’m ashamed to say, I’ve felt the occasional frown of disapproval.
Saturday night was for you. Thank you for the beautiful legacy you give to my life and taught me to share with others.
Success Is Inside!
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