Relentless Pursuit

My dad used these two words a lot and usually together. The dictionary defines it as:
      Relentless: showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace
      Pursuit: the act of following in order to overtake, capture, kill, or defeat

To me it just meant basically to never give up, don't stop till you get what you are after, stick with it and you will succeed. I was probably about 12 years old when I heard my dad yell these words at me for the first time. And yes, you read correctly, he yelled them at me. A bunch of us had gathered down at the pond for a day of ice skating and laughs and my dad decided to start a game of ice skating tag. Well, of course I was the youngest, so I was "it" more often than I wasn't, but my dad knew that I had staying power if not speed. He pulled me aside and told me that I needed to find my target (in this case a friend of my dad's who was a bit wobbly on his skates) and then to stay with him, because pretty soon he would take a spill. He looked at me and said "you can tag him, just stick with it." With that he skated off and looked over his shoulder and yelled at me ... "Remember Gaby, relentless pursuit. Relentless pursuit!" And he was right, it might have taken a bit longer than I liked but instead of giving up I stayed on his heels and skated after him and wouldn't you know it ... down he went and I was there to tag him.

He would tell me these words often and in many different circumstances. It became my cheer from him in whatever I set out to accomplish. Sometimes victory and success came quickly and other times it was a long and tedious journey but as long as I kept pursuing then my success, in some form or another, would come. So these days when things are not going at quite the speed I'd like or an obstacle is thrown my way and I'm feeling less than motivated, I often hear my dad's voice in my head shouting : "Relentless pursuit Gaby". I'm reminded of that moment on the ice when he yelled at me and saw the strength inside of me to never give up. It encourages me, yet again to keep going and if I do I know I will succeed.

So today, I'd like to give you a bit of encouragement in whatever it is you are pursuing. I'll be your cheerleader standing on the sideline, yelling at you .... Relentless pursuit! Relentless pursuit!