The Two Most Powerful Words I Know

I have been an advocate in my lifetime.  I am a mother, a daughter, a teacher... and the reality is that in the core of these roles I am a lifestyle advocate. 

As a mother, I fight for my children, breathing them into my soul and pushing them out on their own two feet in such as way so as their stumbles will not mean falls, but instead the building of balance and muscle.  I have watched as they have grown from infants squalling in my arms (and oh God, did my daughter squall) to toddlers teetering on furniture and then to teens, kissing girls in the back bedroom with the light off when they thought I wasn't paying attention.  But when they came to me, I fought for them. 

As the daughter of a fragile woman, I am again an advocate.  I took my first beating for her when I was only four.  She'd fallen back, his fist in her face, and hit the table, unconscious.  I stood over her in my slender frame, a short, inadequate child, with my fists clenched at my sides, screaming soundlessly one word... "No!"

And, "No" has been my mantra for so many years now.  I rarely say it because it holds so much power.  But the word is branded on my heart; a searing wound that never heals. 

As a teacher.  I am an advocate.  When they come to me and say, "One more day..."  I lead them into that day with the same hands, now open, that once curled into fists to protect my mother.  When they come to me and say, "I can't do it..." I say, "Yes, you can."  And "yes" is the second most powerful word I know.

In the end, I am an advocate.  I am a fighter.  And though my arsenal consists of little more than two short words, the power of them has long held sway over any obstacle in my life.  I am not afraid to use either of them in defense of my own.  And know, that if I say "no" to you it is not because I hate you... and if I say "yes" it is not because I love you.  In the end, it is because I have the strength to be your advocate.