Today I went to Cailyn’s school. All the students were gathered to learn about the upcoming Relay for Life being hosted by the school. To garner support for the event, Cailyn was asked to share what it’s like to live with a life-threatening illness. I got to see her before she spoke and, although she was noticeably nervous, she never wavered from her intention to speak. Wow! I sincerely can’t imagine ever doing something that brave when I was 14! My parting words were “remember to breathe, speak slowly, and don’t worry if you have to pause”!
She did a great job. I was glad she became comfortable with the idea of me attending. Her first answer last week was that I wasn’t allowed to come because there wouldn’t be any other parents there. While we were visiting dear friends over Easter week-end, though, they decided that they were going to attend… this definitely opened the door to me witnessing the event too! 🙂
A few teachers and students stopped to tell me how well she had done as they left the auditorium and the organizing committee all expressed their gratitude to Cailyn.
Her observation at the end of her two presentations (to over 1,000 students) was that she had done better in some areas with the first group of students but did other things better when she presented to the second group. I shared that I always learn something from doing a presentation and aim to take what I learn into the next one!
I gave her a high-five and asked her how she felt now that the experience was behind her… the beautiful smile on her face was answer enough. I told her how proud I was of her and expressed that I was hopeful she was proud of herself. I stated that she had accomplished something very important just by stepping up!
Congratulations Cailyn!