I hoard inspiring words. My favorites are from ordinary people who’ve overcome adversity. Included in my pandemic stash are phrases from Clay Boatright. According to the Dallas Morning News, the 55-year-old sales specialist had experienced “a pileup of loss” by the time the lockdown confronted him with his greatest challenge yet. Here’s Boatright’s story:
In the months before the pandemic, he’d lost his wife of 30 years…feared for his 23-year old daughter surviving tornadoes passing over her Nashville apartment…then (I’m not kidding) witnessed a passenger on his flight try to open the plane’s door at 30,000 feet. That last threat left him “shaken but composed.”
Just a few weeks later, Covid-19 kept him from visiting his 20-year-old twin daughters in their long-term care facility. “‘It was like driving off a cliff.’… As in a bumpy car ride, Boatright still kept his eyes on the road ahead.” He credits his many years of dealing with family illness for his forward-facing life philosophy: “Take the wheel. Make the turn. Drive onward, and don’t look back.” He reminds us that it’s what’s in front of us that matters, which is why…
“Our windshield is huge and our rearview mirror is small.”
Through the months of separation, Boatright reassured himself, “‘This is temporary.’” He trusted that when he was reunited with his twins, they’d “restart the engine.” The story concludes with advice for getting through adversity: “Look through that windshield and say, ‘I see sunlight on the other side of that storm.” In other words, have hope.
Illustration by Emma Mathes; from Healing Hope (p.64)
Aphorism: Face Forward to Move Forward
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