Never Give Up on Your Dreams
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| Mary Wakefield Buxton |
by Mary Wakefield Buxton
Urbanna, Va.— Hard work and sacrifice pay off. It may take years before dreams come true but for those who persist, that day will someday arrive.
Our son spent over 20 years working on his dream. After graduation from Virginia Tech in 1988 he married and went to work and it seemed he would never get to law school. The marriage ended as so many early marriages do, so at age 25 he secured a student loan and went to law school. After graduating, deciding to skip the recommended but expensive Virginia Bar Exam Review Course, he took the exam and failed.
Wake left Virginia, passed a bar exam in another state and settled into a career of estate planning for a bank. Along the way he earned a master’s degree in tax law and an MBA, and we thought he had long forgotten about passing the Virginia Bar.
Funny how life is; old dreams never die. In spite of his success, Wake still yearned to come home and practice law in Virginia. In his mid-30s he decided to take the monster exam once again.
“Don’t you think you should sign up for the exam review course this time?” asked old Mom. What would she know? Wake purchased some tapes and did his own review.
The Virginia Bar exam is known for being one of the toughest bar exams in the country. If a lawyer doesn’t pass it, he can’t practice law in the Commonwealth. Stress for the 2.5-day exam is always bad. But that particular day it was even worse. A thunderstorm hit and the Roanoke arena went dark. Even with generator emergency lighting, it was difficult to read questions.
Halfway through that first morning someone sitting next to Wake was sick. The 2,000 test-takers had to keep on going. Later someone raced screaming from the room and down the halls all the way to the exit.
We weren’t surprised when we heard Wake had not passed his second attempt. As parents do, we suffered for a dream that now seemed never to be fulfilled. Life went on. Wake was busy but he never forgot his dream to return to Virginia.
This year Wake turned 42. Life was passing by. He and his wife Lori now had two young sons and were established and happy in West Virginia. Still, he felt the sharp pangs of that old unfulfilled dream that poked from within like a bone caught in a throat.
“I’m going to take the Virginia Bar exam again, Mom,” he said in a call to me last February. He then resigned from his job (causing old Mom extreme consternation). So many years had passed he had to start the long and detailed application process from scratch for the July exam.
“This time I’ve signed up for the Virginia Bar exam review class in May,” Wake told me. The program was essentially a three-year law school course crammed into two months. Wake moved into “Sprout Cottage” next door and commuted back and forth to the College of William and Mary and Washington and Lee University to complete the rugged course.
July finally came with the big multi-day exam. Lori and the boys were waiting at the arena door for Wake when he came out. “There is no way I could have passed that exam,” Wake said, exhausted from the ordeal.
But we all held onto hope. The results would be released in October and the three months dragged by. The day finally arrived when the names of the successful candidates would be posted on the internet. No one had slept that night, especially not old Mom.
At 9:45 a.m. my phone rang. I froze. I was sure the call would be about Wake and I was afraid it would be bad news.
It was Sharon in the Newport News office. “Have you heard about Wake?” she asked. “He passed the Virginia Bar!”
I wept. A mother’s greatest joy in life is seeing her child succeed. But it was even better than that. The exiled native would now return to Virginia.
It was 9:50 a.m. I realized Wake may not have heard the good news as Sharon had told me the list had just been posted. I zapped a short email to Wake, “You passed, love Mom.” I then made a joyous call to old Dad to tell him the happy news. It turned out that lone email was how Wake had received the good tidings from the long year’s work.
Life is full of trouble, challenge and heartache. There is never an end to problems and occasional failure is a necessary component to achievement. But whoever you are, wherever you are, and especially no matter how old you are—never give up on your dreams. Set goals, work hard, and never give up working to achieve your dream-come-true.
