Little Wars Major Victories

   Life is always full of challenges, and mine has been no exception. For most of the setbacks and problematic situations, I've either accepted them or regrouped and worked around them. But  I chose to engage in at least 3 major battles and victory, of one sort or another, has been  mine.
    My memory of details about  the first is a little vague, having occurred a long time ago, and before I took the copious notes which I learned are integral to waging a successful battle.
     When I graduated from college and began my teaching career, we had a limited time period to earn a master's degree, to keep valid our teaching certification. I think then it was 5 years instead of the 10 which it much later became. I was well on my way to fulfilling that requirement with the time limit fast approaching when I received a letter from the college saying there had been some sort of miscalculation, and I would not be eligible for certification. Back then, leniency was rare indeed, and I think it meant that I would have had to start over. College had not been easy, and I'd had my share of negative happenings, which I had come to accept as part of my fate. But this was too important.I looked for a way to disagree with the decision, and found the sole recourse was to arrange an in-person interview with the Dean of Misery or such and plead my case. His name, I think, was Dr. Llewellyn Jones.
    I  found myself in the anteroom to his office one afternoon, contemplating my chances. The door opened and a young woman came out. She was crying, real tears streaming down her face.Tears of sadness or relief, I couldn't determine. I entered to meet Dr. Jones, who seemed amiable enough.  I presented the scant paperwork that I had, including their admission of error. He skimmed over the pages and said I was fine. He amended the decision. All was well. But I learned that, sometimes at least, one person has the power to transcend all the bureaucratic red tape, and grant your request. That was the lesson learned, and the path I would pursue.
   Battle #2 took much more time and was much more crucial: the struggle to obtain health insurance through my employment. Dave's insurance  had expired and we had no viable route to any other policies. I'll spare the details of this struggle, but with newly available access to the internet, hours and days of research ensued, plus waiting for some hard-headed guardian of finances in the business office to either retire or die, both of which events eventually transpired. Again, it meant contacting the right person or persons, the decision makers.   After 5 long years, we were finally enrolled in a health plan. Victory was sweet, if you can call it that.
   My latest, maybe last, battle has come, almost, to a favorable, and life-changing conclusion.  Only a matter of time until a person, or group of people, will add the final touches to what has been a 2-year odyssey into the heretofore unknown.