Karla Wins, and The Big Speech – May 6, 2013

I have to admit, I missed not writing a post last week. Last week was a fun week for Karla and I. Karla received the distinguished alumni award from Georgia Perimeter College, where she received her nursing degree 23 years ago. I was so happy for Karla, because she has always been quietly working hard to raise a family, support my dreams and be a great hospice nurse. When she the got the letter saying she had been selected, I was thrilled for her winning the award. I could tell at the graduation ceremony where over 2,000 people received their degrees, she was excited and little overwhelmed that she was selected. She and a few other award winners had been selected from over 40 nominations. I have posted a short YouTube video of the ceremony at the end of this post.
A few weeks ago I gave my first public speech on being a sexual abuse survivor. I must admit, that recently I have done  a few interviews for newspapers and magazines, and even a training video that will go around  world to train people on preventing and helping those that have been sexually abused. In none of those interviews or filming did I cry once. For some reason when I gave the speech, I cried the first 10 minutes of the speech. I spoke after the CEO of the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy spoke about the center, all of the children they help and some of the stories about the kids. I got emotional thinking about those kids and the road they still have to travel to heal. By time I got up to speak, I just started to cry softly, but I was able to speak and eventually regain my full composure. I saw many other people crying and it just confirmed why I must continue to do what is asked of me to make others aware of the damage done by childhood sexual abuse, and most importantly, all of us survivors can thrive and live a happy and great life after sexual abuse with the proper counseling and love from others in our lives. Every call, letter or email thanking me for speaking up, confirms my actions are helping others heal and that is my goal, to help others heal and thrive.
The message I will continue to preach is hope, love, forgiveness and developing a strong will to get through our trauma and live a great and happy life.
Now that our 25 years of being in business anniversary date has passed, it is back to the grind of running a business. We are preparing for the future and my fire is burning brightly to go for another 25 years in business. The 100-year-old building renovation project is picking up steam and is a great project. Enjoy some pictures of the steel erection of the dome  and the air handler units being lifted on to the roof deck.
Remember the parking deck project I mentioned in an earlier post about the great recession and projects being put on hold. Well that project is back alive. It will be 7 years in August that we won this project and we are still hopeful it might get built. This is just another example of how long you can wait on a project to start and the money you spend estimating a project and it doesn’t start when it is expected to start. I am very excited about the our next generation of builders that will lead this company someday.
When I think about training and developing new leaders in construction, the next generation provides me that extra push to keep going in business. I must admit, I still get excited when I walk on a job site and see the action and hear the noise of construction.
I am so blessed to have a great family, thriving business, good health and the ability to help others go for their dreams in life. In my next post and the post to follow, I will start writing  about something I have learned in 25 years of business, my life and raising a family. I just pray that my sharing of my life’s journey in business, marriage and life in general will help someone else get through the fear and enjoy this journey of life. Go for it, you will exceed your dreams.
Please enjoy recent pictures and the YouTube video of Karla’s award ceremony.

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