Rest in Peace Steve Jobs - "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish."

“Sometimes life is gonna hit you in the head with a brick, don’t lose faith.” -Steve Jobs

I have never been this inspired to write a blog post, in the entire 3 years I have been writing them. The news that Steve Jobs had passed on, frankly knocked the wind out of me and I am sitting here writing this post with tears streaming down my face. My sadness is more of a revelation. Without the foundation that Steve Jobs created at Apple, I would not have the unbelievable privilege of being able to reach other parents to make a difference in the world using the technology that I do everyday.

I never knew him personally, but this is not the only person I have had some sort of a connection with that has been robbed of their life too early. Steve Jobs has battled pancreatic cancer in the past and undergone a liver transplant. Though the cause of death has not been released, I’m making assumptions, but pancreatic cancer is absolutely horrific. It’s not that just that without the Apple products that I use daily at home and at school that I couldn’t do my job, without Apple, I would not have this blog. I am here writing this to you, because Steve Jobs and Apple have worked together to create such amazing software and intuitive technology that has allowed the blogging part of my life to be possible, and has literally transformed my life. Despite the obvious though, working with children with disabilities, who struggle to communicate or complete activities that the rest of us so easily can do, Apple products has changed the quality of life for so many people. A magnitude of change that I believe was completely unpredictable, and that is why I’m sitting here stunned.

A few years ago, during a major crossroad in both my personal and work life, my husband forwarded me a link to a video of Steve Jobs, speaking at a commencement address at Stanford University in 2005. Steve Jobs was a man who was originally adopted, never graduated from college, got fired from the original Apple company he started and if you didn’t know it, started Pixar Animation. Yes, the company that has brought so many amazing movies like Toy Story to life. I’ve included a link to the video, and make the time to watch his speech, it is amazing, powerful, inspiring and honestly priceless.

Here are a some more of my favorite quotes-

“You’ve got to find what you love and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.” – Steve Jobs-

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it and like any relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.” – Steve Jobs