Friends who inspire

Did you ever have a friend who inspired you to go for it, to try things that you might have thought were out of reach.

I met Angela two years ago. We'd just had two hurricanes, I'd been laid off of my previous job, and had to leave home and go to D.C. for six months to work, far away from my husband and friends. It was one of the hardest things I'd ever done.

Angela was a mature, goal setting 23 yr old who had come from her native Oregon to live with her cousin near D.C. and get a government job. Her goal was to be the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company before the age of 45.

She knew how to move up the government ladder to reach her goals. She inspired me to reach for dreams that I'd thought buried and some I didn't discover until I came home.

It's hard to identify what your dreams might be when you're working 70-80 hours a week, year after year and just living day to day. You have to have time to contemplate, ruminate, and salivate. Ironically, during the only two periods of unemployment in my life, I began to realize my dream of writing.

Since then Angela has been steadily achieving one goal after another. This Sunday she'll become a grade 9. Just three or four years ago, she was a grade 3, and she'll be going to Georgetown University next year for her Masters in Business as well.

Thanks, my friend, for continuing to inspire me.