Jenette Zubero My determination comes from watching my mother struggle. After seventeen years of marriage, three young children, and a huge mortgage on a house, my father left my mother for a women 10 years his junior. I watched my uneducated mother pull herself up by the bootstraps, go to nursing school, and make herself into one of the most respectable and beautiful women I will ever know. I want to be just like her.

Roberta Livingston We can't control what life will send our way...We can only control our reactions to those occurrences. You will be exactly as happy as you make up your mind to be. Attitude is not everything...but it comes awfully close!

Jodi Allen My Father played a big role in my ability to tackle anything. He was always saying, there is nothing you cannot do if you want to. For weeks he let me back the car around the farm because he would not show me how to get it in gear to go forward. (stick shift) Because of him, "I CANNOT" is not in MY vocabulary!

Michele Thistle Fahey Tonight I was late to a class I'm taking. Walked in, sat down, and found out that the group was supposed to do a short presentation on a topic assigned a week earlier. I had missed the discussion. No one else in this group of four women was willing to present, so I said, "OK., I will," and proceeded to do a (IMPO, and from feedback from class and instructor) a fantastic job, to the amazement of many. Bragging? Oh a little, I suppose, but really reflecting that this is me--the ability to think and act on my feet, and have fun while I'm doing it. It's one of the things I like most about me, and one I give thanks for on a regular basis.

Deborah Brodie My grandparents' (and great grandparents) generation continues to intrigue me -- even more so I get older. How could parents send their children to America, the 'promised' land -- without knowing if they ever arrived safely? How did people learn enough of the 'American way' to work, buy a house, raise children, often times without even knowing the language? I was brought up with learning to 'make do' -- not to waste. Fabric that was used for a dress could then be taken apart and be made into a skirt. Even years later, that same fabric was made into a blanket! The ingenuity, spirit, and 'chutzpa' (guts) that abounded at the turn of the century still mystifies me -- and strongly influences me in my everyday life.

Mary Barfoot What would it be like if my grandmother, my mother, me, and my grandoughter could spend one day together, all the age of 25. Would we like each other? If each of us could have or memories intack could we learn from the past? Would my grandmother be amazed and delighted, or turn form my time and the horror of the drug problem and teen-age violence. Would me mother tell me to keep trying or to rest and have fun more often. Would my grandaughter draw from the knowledge of the two women before me, or would she feel she knows everything worth knowing. Would I take advantage of this day, or waste it trying to finish just one more thing before I go with them. Sometimes opportunities come in very unusual wrappings. The past is full and closed. I can not rewrite one line there. The future is unformed and out of my grasp. I have now, good, bad or wasted; I have now.

Mary Roth-Davies Much of the reason I am so focused and determined stems from my strong belief that things always work out for the best. I truly believe that everything that happens to us moves us forward to places we might not have gotten to by ourselves. I incorporate this belief into everything I do. It makes it a little easier to keep on going when things get rough.