The Start is Not Your Finish by Corine Gatti

There was a story of a young couple that moved to a new area with three small children. The husband was working to provide by commuting to a different state during the week. They left New York and moved to a small suburb outside of coal town USA. The house they bought was left damaged by the Agnes flood, and was affordable. The foundation was strong, but it needed cosmetic repairs as the green paint was peeling, the windows frames were worn, porch creaked, gravel marked the driveway and blades of grass grew between the red brick walk way. As unappealing as the house was, the next door neighbors were worse than the fixer-upper.

One day a knock came and the woman who owned the yellow-sided ranch told the young mother with her little girl beside her that she understood that her husband "was not making it there" and wanted to buy the property to expand her preschool. This was series of events that took place over the years, like the muffler or engine being too loud in the couple’s car, while neighbors on the opposite side snubbed the couple by rallying behind the woman that would teach future children. The young wife was no slouch, but quietly brushed it off as well as her husband. Would the child do the same, despite it being assumed that she had no decent future or "won't make it" after hearing it for years?

Who told you that you couldn’t make it?

It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.

By Corine Gatti