CBA Record Jan-Feb 2021

2020, as the isolation wore on and the unexpected challenges continued, I would think—fodder for my Book of Perspective. Surely, 2020 was a devastating or dif- ficult year for many. I do not know why life is so challenging at times. However, I learned early on to let challenges motivate me not to merely survive but to thrive. Use these tests to be your testimony. If one drives through the darkest tunnel, if one continues to drive and does not stop, one will reach the light. May 2021 bring you and your families great joy, health, and prosperity! Should challenges come, and they will, maintain the perspective that if you keep moving forward, things will get better.

hospital. Within a day, she became suspi- cious. “Why was I limping so badly?” she asked. I minimized my situation saying I had twisted something and that I was all right. But the third day after my mother returned from the hospital, I was in so much pain that I was unable to stand. My father and brothers took me to the hospital, and I was admitted. Many tests and several days later, I learned that I had severe back muscle strain and a rare form of juvenile arthritis. My mother and I shared the same physician. Since our doctor was aware of her medical condition, she told my mother that she could not visit me in the hospital because her own health was tenuous. While I was still hospitalized, my

mother passed away in her sleep at home. I was discharged so that I could attend my mother’s funeral. Upon returning home, I had to focus on re-learning to walk. It’s amazing how quickly the body can forget how to walk. Since that time in my life, I have endured many struggles with education, employment, finances, divorce, assorted ailments, deaths of loved ones—too many trials to mention here. In the face of those struggles, I always reflect on April andMay of 1979 and think: if I made it through that, I can make it through this. I believe in the phrases, “that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and even, “it can always be worse…always.” Throughout

CBA RECORD 7