You are stronger than you know

When I was about 7, I stepped on a nail while I was running outside. Wearing sandals, my foot didn’t stand a chance and the nail went right through it. I screamed and my dad came over, picked me up, carried me to his truck and held my hand all the way to the hospital. While he was driving he said “Your foot will hurt but you’re stronger than you realize Lesley.”

When I went through my first boy heartbreak as a teenager, my dad was the first one I ran to. He hugged me as I cried on his shoulder, patted my head and said “Your heart will hurt but you’re stronger than you realize Lesley.”

The day I tried to grain cart for the first time, I was overly nervous and way out of my comfort zone. I didn’t understand hand signals, the guys had to repeat things to me multiple times, I was slow and held up the team and I busted a couple shear pins. My dad said when I got back to the yard that night “Your confidence may hurt, but you’re stronger than you realize Lesley.”

The day we got the news that my dad only had a few days left in this world, as tears steamed down our faces in the hospital, I told him I didn’t know how I was going to live without him. He paused, turned to me and said “It’s going to hurt for a bit but you are stronger than you realize Lesley.”

My dad helped me redefine strength and helped me realize the strength I always had in me. This has been a hard year for many of us, through a pandemic, life loss and crop loss but I’m repeating his words continually to help get us through and passing it on like he did:

Please remember, you are always stronger than you know.

Believe it. Know it. Trust it