After years of waking up

accidentally,

one morning she woke up

on purpose…

She did not say

to herself

I’ll try or even

I’ll see what happens…

she taught herself instead

to rise above

the quiet discouragements

that held her back,

the little criticisms that

bled her dreams…

She guarded the light in her

(that still flickered)

from the gusts of mockery

and disdain…

She cultivated her

determination to settle for

nothing less than everything

she could become 

so that she had more

to give…

She knew that she had to

reach deeper

inside herself if she hoped

to touch the life of another so 

she did…

She looked back 

to the past and learned,

peered into the future

and dreamed,

looked around her 

with  gratitude 

then into the mirror

and saw,

for the first time

with clarity

that in her journey to lead

an extraordinary life,

she had become…

Extraordinary.