Perseverance

Perseverance per·se·ver·ance noun persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. I was sent an article this past week about my Father. In summary it said, in 1944 at 17 he was a year away from becoming the goaltender for the New York Rangers. That year he developed rheumatic fever and was in bed for months when the team doctors told him to go back to the farm because he would never play hockey again. He did go back to the farm for several months and then began a six year crawl back to the major leagues. In 1951, his rookie year in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs he won the Stanley Cup and Vezina Trophy as the leagues top goaltender. Several years later he won the Hart Trophy awarded to the league MVP while playing for the Chicago Black Hawks. I didn’t really know this story or how long it took him to fight back to achieve his dream. Now I know where his children and grandchildren developed their Perseverance.