We are all a team - and now we all need to pray.

My posts are, normally, uplifting.  They are about appreciating the little things and how the adventures I encounter form my thoughts and days.  Today I have questions.

I was ready to write about my amazing and full weekend.  The wonderful people I had fun with, the family adventures we encountered but now?  Now I am confused.

I am a runner and one thing I have learned is that running is a team sport.  I run with some wonderful ladies and we get each other through our easy and hard runs - easy and hard days.  I am on numerous FB groups where we cheer each other on as if we are old friends, and yet, we have never met.  We are all kindred spirits, we run together.

Today, we were all cheering for our fellow runners in the Boston Marathon - we are their cheerleaders from all over the globe. Some of us even have far fetched dreams of making it some day.  Now we are asking questions.  Now we are praying.

We don't know what has happened, and we don't have answers.  It may be a while before we know anything but one thing I do know - we need to pray.  We need pray for the runners who are done, the runners who are still on the course, the fans, the families and friends cheering from home and can't get updates.

We are all a team - and now we all need to pray.

Today we fight

I had lunch with 3/4 of the CN Mafia (great group of friends aptly named by one of the fiancees); we were sampling food for the reception, it is an important role that we HAD to do.  You know, because none of us have ever eaten at Fuddruckers before...hee hee hee :)

Anyway, while we were sacrificing buffaloes in honor of our hungry tummies, we were talking about life and death.  All of us are of the mindset that when it is time to go, it is time to go.  But we are all fighters.  There is nothing that we wouldn't fight through if we put our minds too it (we are forged in TM mud after all).  

Today, a friend is fighting for the right to live literally.  He is going for surgery for a new heart.  Yes, this is the same person that had a heart 'die' on him months ago while being prepped.  Today, the heart is viable and will be his.  We tough girls all made it clear that once we are gone, we are donating everything that can be used.  EVERYTHING.  If someone gets to live on, live on!  We certainly don't need it anymore.

So today, we fight for him.  We fight for his amazing wife and his two great kids.  We fight for everyone who can't fight for themselves.  Everyone is unique, has different opinions on right and wrong, politics, religion, you name it, but everyone deserves the right to fight.

Angels watch him as he fights today, and let him know that we are fighting for him too.

Because I can

On March 3rd, I ran my first marathon.  This was a huge deal for me for so many reasons.  26.2 down.  I can say the words "I am a marathoner" and be proud of it.  I had an amazing group of friends come and cheer for me in Arkansas - yup, they drove the 5 hours to Arkansas - through the whole thing.  At one point, they actually fed me, FED ME, and I let them.  I asked for hugs at the end, the non-toucher needing hugs and help walking, but that is neither here nor there.  I had more family and friends cheering for me from a far - they were with me the whole time too whether they realized it or not.

That whole amazing experience, where I started as a girl who started running a year and a half ago, made me realize just how much a person is capable of doing.  I did start and end as a different person and would be lying if I said I wasn't thinking of doing another one, pain, tears, scars and all.  I am a marathoner, and that is not the most amazing thing that happened to me that weekend.

On March 2nd, I walked in the Walk MS event in Dallas for the third straight year.  Lauren and I walked with our families for a cure.  It was awesome to see the amount of people out there walking, riding, running, scooting, whatever it took to show the dedication we have to find a cure for MS.  I don't know how many more years we will be walking it together (there is talk of a tent with a hostess next year) but I know I will be walking it as long as these two legs will carry me, just like I will be running in races as long as the same two legs will carry me.  Why?  Because I can.

I got countless emails and texts the week after asking me how I felt and my most honest answer was that I felt blessed.  Yes, I was sore as hell and I could never imagine running a 5k, let alone a marathon, ever again, but more than that? I felt lucky.

Somewhere between my wipe out after mile 8 and the hill from hell at mile 24 I realized something.  I was doing what so many people cannot.  The day before, I was celebrating and walking in honor of so many people who would LOVE to be able to run even a mile, let alone 26.2.  Sunday, I was realizing a dream I had put my mind too. My legs, muscles, feet, lungs, heart - sure, they may have been screaming and cramping in ways I didn't know was possible - were carrying me the whole way.

I wrote this many weeks ago and never posted it, I still don't think it provides the full message, or emotion, of what I feel about that weekend but it was time to hit 'Publish'.  People still ask me why I did it.  People think I have lost my mind as it is bad for my knees, or hips, or doesn't need to happen as no one is chasing me, or takes too much time, or or or.  The real answer is I did it because I can and so many others cannot.  And it isn't because they don't want to, or they just don't care to put in the training or try, they physically cannot do it.

I am a marathoner because I ran 26.2 miles and I did it because I can.

From here, the fog looks like a soft blanket

I am flying right now and I mean literally flying over beautiful rock formations and snow topped mountains.   I wish I could say it was in a private jet with someone serving me crepes and mimosas while I caught up on all the movies I want to see OR in a small plan piloting it on a site seeing adventure, but alas I am flying in a Super-80 (yuck) to our corporate office for a couple days of meetings.  It helps that our corporate office is in Palo Alto, CA and the weather should be great of course.  It doesn't help that due to the Comedy of Errors that is my life I didn't get to eat this morning or have my tea but I digress.

It all looks so peaceful from up here, the pilot just said we could see the Grand Canyon in the distance.  I have only ever seen the Grand Canyon from the sky, it is on my list of places to visit in person...I want to walk on the sky bridge and look down before rafting down the river.

Back to being peaceful.  On this cloudless day, I can almost see the wild animals on the peaks or plateaus   The red rocks and white snow remind me of Estes park, not that there were red rocks as much as the peace and reminder of how very small we are.  I know there are people down there, roads, offices, houses, schools, but from up here?  Up here there is simply miles and miles of canyons and mountains.

It is unfortunate that I needed to be thousands of feet in the air to remember the peaceful feeling that I had while climbing the continental divide (talk about feeling small) or sitting by the pool in Mexico, or on the beach in Florida...I am going to take advantage of it none the less.

Find your peace today, even if it is for a few fleeting moments and without crepes or climbing equipment.

Finding Your Home

A month again...oops.  It's not that I don't have things to write, it is more like I have too much to write!

Anyway, I live my life with a soundtrack.  I had a boyfriend in high school who asked me if my family will randomly break out into song...yes.  Yes we will.  And often.  Back to my point, I have talked before how the kiddos go to this amazing school that teaches you to be Men for Others.  I was reminded of that again this week.  How does that tie into my soundtrack?  Give me a minute, I will always come around to my point.

This week, the basketball program - Freshman through Varsity, coaches included - did something that brought tears to this 'I don't cry it is a sign of weakness' heart.  They shaved their heads from a #3-#5.  Teenage boys, in the heart of Sadie Hawkins time, shaved their heads.

Why?  Because one of the freshman player's little sister has cancer and is starting chemo and they wanted to show their support.  These boys didn't think about what their short hair looks might be, didn't worry about what others might say.  The kiddo? Well his hair is already a #3 so he didn't have to shave his but said he would have.  I showed up to the Varsity game last night and the head coach had his head shaved, the other freshman coach I almost didn't recognize as he was all but bald.

So what is my point?  I was listening to music, dancing around my kitchen while the promised brownies cooked for the most important men in my life, and Home came on.  It hit me again, my boys are home.  Their school that we spent all of dinner talking about, the school they get to at 6:45ish every morning, the school they are at for no less than 12 hours a day.  The school that they have found friends, young and old, mentors, also young and old; the school where they have found family.  These Men for Others are home; and this week the home shaved their heads for one of their own in their home.

Teenage boys might not be the easiest to understand, the easiest to be patient with, the easiest to understand, but this week?  They certainly are the easiest to emulate when it comes to finding family and a Home.

IT IS WORKING!!!

Before the past couple years, I didn't have much experience with transplants.  I didn't know the process, the difficulty, I could only imagine the hopelessness felt by the recipients and their families as they waited.

Then came the heart and the kidney.

Late last year they found a heart.  It didn't work out - God had other plans, but today?  Today the kidney was found AND IT IS WORKING.

Trey is the brother of a dear family friend that my mother has one of those more like family than a friend relationships with, and has for a few years.   Today his wife, his 4 kids, his family and his friends get to celebrate because the kidney is working. Here is his story:

At 19 years of age, due to kidney failure, Trey received a kidney transplant from their father. In August of 2010, he discovered he had renal cell carcinoma in this kidney. Thankfully, there were no signs of metastasis. He underwent surgery in an attempt to remove the tumor but save the kidney. Unfortunately, the entire kidney had to be removed. Since that day, Trey has been on dialysis three nights a week. While they are grateful for dialysis as it keeps him alive, it causes serious damage to his body and greatly decreases his quality of life. His sister, Ashleigh, was the anticipated donor. However, due to a previous transplant and blood transfusions, Trey has developed an extremely high antibody count, causing her and 11 other family members to not be a match. 

They worked with the Mayo Clinic, until yesterday.  Yesterday Trey and the family headed to Chicago to take part in a 14 person chain for a new kidney.  Today, THE KIDNEY IS WORKING.

I believe in God, I believe in Angels and I believe in the power of prayer.  We have asked for prayers and I know God works at his schedule (want to hear God laugh?  Tell him your plans!), and today our prayers were answered and not only did Trey get a kidney, the kidney is working.

We are still waiting on a heart, but I know God has a plan, even when we aren't patient enough for it.

Today?  Today we celebrate the kidney.  AND IT IS WORKING.

Plant Your Feet - 5 seconds of amazing is totally worth it

Recently, I spent a lot of time in a basketball gym.  As I watched from the stands I saw boys set themselves up, hard, in the lane, hands crossed low and feet planted firmly, waiting for the oncoming offensive to try to charge over them towards the basket.  Bodies hit, feet held firm and as the defender fell the whistle blew -CHARGE AGAINST WHITE.  The Blue jerseys and fans cheered - turn over on white.  The crowd goes wild and the coach gives a high five from the stands.  Way to go kid - how much we can learn from you!!!

It might hurt, and you will fall if you do it right, hard, feet up in the air and wind knocked out of you.  If you have ever planted and received the powerful charge you know that it can feel like the world is crashing on you and yet you get the ball.  You stand up and are in control.  This is one of the greatest calls you can get as a baller.   You will be the hero of your bench for that 5 seconds.  Hero of the stands.  Hero of your school. You might not smile on the outside as you take those low fives running back on offense but inside you are smiling and cheering.  5 seconds of amazement.

As adults, too often we worry about what everyone else might think.  We don't plant our feet and stand our ground and take that charge, get up and smile inside.

Let's do it.  Take your stand.  Plant your feet. Get the wind knocked out of you.  Be a hero for your friends, your family, for yourself.  Smile inside and run back on offense.  Learn from that kid in the lane, 5 seconds of amazing is totally worth it.