This narrative inquiry highlights the first year of a 5-year Jacob K. Javits grant. In it, the authors detail their experiences writing and receiving the grant and beginning the equity-focused work of helping develop and expand gifted education in Michigan. Michigan currently has no gifted education legislation or funding, so this Javits team began the work to build an equitable system using the most recent research in our field. Given the lack of a playbook for building an equitable gifted education program from the start, through narrative methods, the authors share not only their actions, but also the challenges, internal and external, which threatened, and continue to threaten, the success of the project. They argue that choosing action over conflicting emotions enables them to show up, ready or not, to fight for the dignity of gifted children everywhere.