Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way!

The other day, during the heat inferno of July 2026 — which not only affected Indiana but also upstate NY… and included wildfire smoke — I was talking to Mom and checking in to see how things were going. She mentioned that she only had one air conditioner in her bedroom but the rest of the house was really brutally hot. Then she said that a coworker had given her another one that day and she needed to have it installed. I asked if Jake (my brother in-law) was going to do install it, but she said he had been working a lot of overtime, so she would “figure it out.” Two hours later I got two photos of the air conditioner mounted in the window.

Our Conversation:
Me: You did that?!
Mom: I did! I got it in the house and installed. It is very tight in the window.
Me: Well, label me impressed! 👍💪
Mom: Where there’s a will. There’s …
Me: She started to sing as she tackled the thing that couldn’t be done and she did it 😃
Mom: That’s great! What’s the rest of that?
Me: You guys used to have that poem posted on our bulletin board by the desk. Right next to the “Don’t Quit” poem. See, people wonder why we are the way we are… It’s your guy’s fault!
Mom: Oh yes! I love it!

When I was a kid, we had a wall-mounted desk where Mom and Dad kept all their papers, bills, the phone book, pens and other assorted important things. Of course Dad had phone numbers and randomness written on the backs of bills and various other scraps of paper. There was also a board where I recall two poems posted. One was “It Couldn’t be Done” and the other was “Don’t Quit” and both were written by Edgar A. Guest. These two poems literally became a part of how I lived my life. [Also, Dad was very strongly opposed to the words “I can’t.” You had to try every way possible before you could utter those words.] This conversation also reminded me of a few years ago when there was a large snowfall — like over 2’ and mom sent me a photo of a path to her garage from the back door that she had shoveled. “I needed to get to the garage,” she said. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” was a common axiom in our home.

So be inspired by my mother who does what needs to be done (like driving the dump truck to church when the car broke down) when it needs to be done. And be inspired by these two life defining poems that my parents lived by and instilled into the three of us.

It Couldn’t Be Done
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
Edgar Guest 1881-1959

Don’t Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and debts are high,
And you want to smile but have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out,
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the struggler has given up,
When he might captured the victor’s cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown,

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.
Edgar Guest 1881-1959