In Week 1, we were each challenged to write our definite major purpose. After decades of prioritizing and caring for my family and parents, the thought of what I wanted to do myself was a new concept.

Mark explained that we were to just think of what we would love to do and not worry about how to make that come about.

I started writing, hesitantly at first, but then I got into the flow, and the thoughts came bolder and freer. I wrote down the things that I had always wanted to do but never had the freedom to.

I thought back to my personality in college, and the people that I had admired throughout my life.

You see, I was always the awkward, geeky type. You know, like Anne Hathaway at the beginning of the Princess Diaries. More tomboy than girlish, I was quick to jump into any challenge whether it be changing a flat tire or replacing the carburetor on a lawn mower.

I was more comfortable up in our backyard tree reading a book or chopping firewood than going shopping or dressing up for tea.

But there were women that I have known and admired for their unflappable poise in every situation. My supervisor Flo at my first real job who taught me ultimate professionalism.

The music director’s wife Marietta at our church, a globally-known recording artist in her own right, who always conducted herself with grace even in our lively Pentecostal services.

Women like Princess Diana, Grace Kelly, and Audrey Hepburn, who were widely known for their feminine grace and classy demeanor.

So as I was concluding my list of what I envisioned my life to be someday, I wrote the line: “My enthusiasm for life and self-confidence captivate everyone I meet, and my poise and grace is admired around the world.”

While I did visit a few counties in Europe when I was 11 and went on a college trip to El Salvador when I was 15, world travel hadn’t been in my past. But it would be great to have it in my future.

We are on Week 8, and the text of my DMP has been edited, tweaked, totally revamped, and edited again. But I have always kept that last line because every time I say it, it lifts my spirit and puts a smile on my face.

Monday of this week I received a text from my father who is traveling in the Philippines preaching in local churches and teaching the church leaders. He wanted to let me know that he had seen me on video the night before.

He explained they were visiting at a home there, and a webcast of a service from the church we attend in Louisiana was on. In the video, which was from several years ago, he saw me interpreting for the deaf during the service.

He said, “I pointed you out, bragged a little,” and he sent me a photo showing the TV and the image of me on the screen that he was sitting and watching in a living room halfway around the world.

I didn’t think much of it right then, but the next time I read my DMP aloud and ended with my usual flair, “…and my poise and grace is admired around the world,” I had to stop and catch my breath when I realized that it is already coming true.

It is amazing to see what has happened in just eight weeks.