MY SUPPORTS

When I think of support, I think of my connections, my family, friends and acquaintances. These are the people who I talk to, laugh with, disagree about issues and join forces with for a cause that is of benefit to someone’s need. However, I am most thankful for my greatest support, my husband who is my rock. He inspires me to think that I can do, endure, create and withstand anything that I need to. He taught me to believe in myself and value my own opinions. He is very patient and understanding and it helps that we are both studying at the same time. He helps without complaining and is always calling me where ever he is, checking if all is well and if I am on top of my school work. I have grown from doubtful and fearful to brave and strong because of his encouragement, I truly appreciate him.

Then there is my daughter, who is my big fan, she supports me in things that are challenging for me, for example, technology stuff that I declare I do not want to learn about, she holds my hand and guide me through. She is the ear that listens when I need to speak without interruption, I vent until am dry and is ready to take another try. She would always ask if I am feeling better. She encourages me to be myself and to take on any project that I feel I need to do and just do it. Everyone else in my circles calls on me for help support, advice, prayer, home remedies and parenting tips, just to name a few of the areas that I am called upon as resource person.

If I did not have my husband and my daughter as my daily support, it would be very difficult to cope and to make sense of my life and to find purpose in what I do. I would not have been able to face the challenges that I do without them by my side. I would have given up on my dream and not further my studies, I would be a very unhappy person who would not be able to encourage others and discovering that I am gifted in doing so, I am grateful for my husband and daughter and I always let them know.  

The challenge that I would not like to have to face without my supports is the loss of a loved one. When this happens, and it has happen to me over and again, it feels like something knocked the wind out of you and you are floating away effortlessly. That is the time when support is most needed, not just the few days but months after, when everything reminds you of the one gone. A song on the radio, a favorite food, a trip to the grocery store or a neighborhood event. Even relative coming to visit can be trying if there is no support after they are gone.

There is a song by Dennis Brown (1969),that begins with the verse “No man is an island, no man stands alone, each man’s joy is joy to me, each man’s grief is my own……each man as my brother, each man as my friend”. I think that is what support really means, that we all need someone to lean on, everyone needs support.