Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

I’ll never forget the Girl Scout trip when my mom and I spent the night in the manatee exhibit. I was so excited to sleep next to the manatees, imagining how cool it would be to wake up with them swimming around. But, of course, things didn’t go as planned. The floors were super hard, and the bright lights from the manatee pool didn’t exactly make it easy to sleep. I was exhausted, but so was my mom. She wasn’t thrilled about going there in the first place, and by the middle of the night, we were both ready to be anywhere but on that hard floor.

Even though my mom wasn’t excited about the trip to begin with, she totally made the best of it. She brought extra blankets, pillows, and even snacks to try to make us more comfortable. She didn’t want to be there, but she was going to make sure I had a good time, even if that meant sacrificing a good night’s sleep. I really appreciated how she didn’t let the situation ruin the night–she found a way to make it work, even though everything about it was less than ideal.

By morning, we were both more than ready to head home, but I still look back on that night fondly. It was a perfect example of her saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” My mom found a way to make the night memorable, even with all the discomfort. It wasn’t about how hard the floor was or how little sleep we got, it was about how she went out of her way to make it fun.