It's that time again.... the big dance!
Tourney basketball is the best sporting event in sports if you ask me. Everyone loves a good story. I hope you carve out some time to watch a game or two in the next few weeks.... it's always worth it.
The trivia crew put together a little bracket challenge the other night. I plan on winning.
I hear people say all the time that they could never work with teenagers. I guess spending more time with them than anyone my own age makes it a lot easier, but maybe it is all just about perspective.
I really enjoy working with young people. They can be trying at times, but what age group can't? I know that there are CERTAINLY times when adults seem even more frustrating.
Teenagers, in my limited experience, can be the nicest cats around. Let's think about an age group that is more in tuned with their world socially. They are wired to spend their days building relationships and are pretty in tune with people's feelings (for the most part).
Below is an example of a cake that some of our Stuco kids made for our head advisor who just won this award.
Some days it is just nice to see people do good in this world.... even if it is the little things.
Especially when it's the little things.
Today is a big day for a few reasons. It's Pi Day (3.14). It's my father's birthday. Happy birthday zaz! It is also the 3-year anniversary of the day one of my best friends had a life-altering car accident. Tony, the other dude in this picture below, has been a friend of mine since we were in kindergarten together.
Aside from being classmates thru gradeschool, Tony and I went to the same church forever as kids and hung out throughout middle school and high school. We played Freshman basketball together and coached a little league team that same year..... and didn't win a single game in either league. We went to the same church camps and even went back to be counselors together after we graduated. That same summer (2001... the year we graduated) we put together a gold medal winning Ultimate Frisbee team that competed in the Show-Me State Games. We had been organizing a LOT of ultimate games that year with friends and really carved out a little routine that turned out to be one of the best summers I'll ever have. College comes our way and we go separate ways geographically, but still stay in touch. A few years pass and I am living at home again and student teaching. We spend a lot of time together again off and on and I land a teaching job. First-year teaching is not easy.... not even really that much fun. It was more work than I had ever done before and I had never really had a career-type job before AND was balancing what I thought was an important relationship as well. I had very little social life that year for lots of reasons but I certainly didn't see Tony or my Odessa friends like I wish I had. I'll skip forward a bit here to make a long story just slightly less long.
3 years ago, today, Tony was in a vehicle accident. The details were/are complicated and ultimately don't matter. The end result is what mattered/matters. Tony broke his neck. I didn't have a lot of medical knowledge but I knew that neck breaks aren't good. Initially I was sure things would be fine. I guess I still had that teenage 'it can't happen to me or my friends' mentality/denial which made me hold hope to this idea until the next day when I returned home from the conference I was attending to learn that Tony still wasn't awake or moving. Things were bad, much worse than many people know. I drove to the hospital every day for.... i don't really remember how long. It felt like months. Tony eventually woke up and we soon realized that the absolute worse possibilities would not become reality. Tony was alive and without brain damage. The rest of it wasn't really good news. Tony couldn't walk and his wheelchair did basically everything for him. The captain of our Ultimate squad and Softball team for 6 years reduced to a tough-to-recognize form of himself. It was clearly still Tony, but it was also clear that things wouldn't ever be the same for him or anyone close to him. Eventually Tony got feeling back in some of his legs.... we all cried. Eventually Tony moved to a wheel chair that was powered by him. That rocked. Next Tony was using a walker and then a cane and could actually walk. Crazy! I have never seen someone work on something so hard mentally, physically, and emotionally. For Tony it seems like life as he knew it just stopped. Everything changed. He, in some ways, started over again. His good friends became evident and his family much closer. Casual friends stayed just that or faded out of his life. Every bit of his life and the people surrounding him were focused on getting Tony better. It was truly amazing to see it all take place. In the back of my mind I think we all knew that this shouldn't have to happen to anyone.... but if anyone was going to come through it, Tony would. I haven't ever been as scared/moved/happy about the smallest things at any other point in my life. It really put everything in to perspective. We held a benefit for Tony during all this and I have never seen a community just come together. We all knew things had to be done and nothing ever stood in our way. I clearly remember 4 things from that softball benefit day.
If you wait long enough life usually has happy endings. Tony is better than ever, married, living in San Diego, and preparing to become a father. I am proud of him for taking a life-changing event and letting it only be for the best in the end.
Cheers, Tony-bag-of-donuts..... thanks for not dying. You said it best in your text reply to me today, "Glad I didnt die either. That would've sucked." Yep.... that would've sucked.
Lent begins today.
Today begins a 40 day challenge I have for myself. That is a bit of what this season is all supposed to be about. Here are some goals i have for myself.
1. 40 posts (on here) in 40 days.
2. no soda for 40 days
3. 40 40-minute workouts in 40 days.
wish me luck!
or join me!
I'd like to invite ANYONE reading this to come join me in taking the Polar Plunge in a few weeks. It is January 29th and is a benefit event for Special Olympics. I am sure i don't have to convince you that Special Olympics is a fantastic cause....my guess is that you are a bit more skeptical about jumping in a lake in January. I understand. So I'll give you some great alternatives. If you, for various reasons, don't feel like you can/want to jump into a freezing lake (last time i did this there was 8 inch thick ice carved away for our 'plunge area') please support someone who is. I have a team and would love to accept donations on behalf of Special Olympics. I am personally trying to raise $300 dollars. My team consists of students and staff from Fort Osage High School but would accept anyone. If you would rather your donation go to help a student take the plunge i would gladly make that happen.
how to donate:
even 5 bucks would be a great donation.... anything you've got would be great.
The money stays in the Kansas City area...FYI.
Special Olympics is such a fantastic cause.... check out somo.org if you don't believe me.
This awesome pose is of me emerging from Longview Lake a couple years ago. My inner monologue: "holy shnikes that was cold!"
