Grit is one of the hardest things to teach a child, yet alone understand as a parent.

A teacher of mine in undergrad said it best: You can have two men of equal stature driving on the same highway toward each other… Both wearing their seat-belts, in the same year, make, and model car.. and they hit each other head on. One will walk away from the accident with barely a scratch, and the other will die.

No one can explain why.

Just like in the car-wreck example, everyone responds to life events differently.

After Corey was murdered, my response was to stand up and keep going. To begin working to build something positive… because I knew that if I sat down, I may never get back up.

I knew that I still had my other children that needed me to teach them GRIT. Because grit is not something you learn from a textbook. You can’t learn it from a lecture or “The Movie of the Week”. It’s not found on the internet.

Grit is learned when your child sees you go through the worst experience of your entire life, and you still continue to function. They may see that you function differently, and that’s ok… but you have to keep going!

I am so proud of my boys. A year later, my boys are showing true strength and grit.

Justin is back in college and making plans for his future… something that seemed so impossible a year ago. Josh continues to achieve his goals academically and in his extracurricular activities.

Bob continues to be my rock. I’ve just finished my fall semester, and have only one more until I’m finished with the MBA with an emphasis in Fundraising. Corey’s Network, Inc. is six months old, and off to a good start. We are going to make it through this.

I know whatever you are going through may hurt. We’ve been there.

Get up. Get dressed.

SHOW SOMEONE YOUR GRIT TODAY.