My paternal grandmother, Lizzie, was a woman – or as she would have said – a lady, with many mottos. She used to bring them out regularly, as the mood took her. One of her favourites was “Think you are beautiful and you will be beautiful”! I actually think it probably did work for her: she was still quite a striking woman when she was eighty, with her piled up pure white hair and straight back.
I think her motto can be applied in quite a lot of other areas too. Really, if you make up your mind to something, you are halfway there. I worked for many years for someone who believed that if you have average intelligence, a modicum of common sense and lots of determination, that you could become anything you want, whether that be a doctor, architect or lawyer – or whatever else. She proved it too. On several occasions in our legal office, we took on youngsters who had left school without qualifications – even at sixteen – and turned them into solicitors a few years later. It took a lot of hard work, but several solicitors are practising today thanks to her philosophy of life.
I wonder if the same theory is true of mountain climbing? If you are averagely fit, sensible how you go about it and determined to do it, can you climb Kilimanjaro? I am starting to believe maybe the answer is yes! When I watched the film of many of my friends and relatives in the “Climb Every Mountain” blog on 19th May – that amazing film – I really started to believe it is possible that Jae, Oscar and I will be standing at the top at the end of August, belting out our own rendition of the song. With the support we have behind us from the lovely singers, those who have donated money and things to take with us and those who have even provided us with art works, we have everything we could possibly need. I believe we really might make it!
