On my soapbox

My message to you and everybody is to embrace life! Today, with some groovy tunes pumping into my ears I climbed the rock wall, rode the stationary bike for 20 minutes, and then lifted weights. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I didn't recognize for a second that it was indeed me looking back. Where I going here is that I have thrown some caution to the wind and I'm doing things I didn't do or would not have been able to do for years. I'm not perfect; I haven't lost all that I want to lose. I make some bad food choice on occasion, but gosh darn I'm having a good time. We all get caught up in what the scale says now, and forget to suck the marrow out of life and enjoy the little things we can do now that were just memories of dreams. Enjoy the small victories. Hell, I smile every time I wipe my butt because I no longer have to contort myself and dislocate a joint to get the job done. Ok, too much info on that one maybe, but we all need to look at how far we have come, rather then how much farther we have to go sometimes. We need to live with our bad choice for food, and resolve to make a better choice next time. We can't beat ourselves up because we made a mistake. We are all risk takers! If you say your not, you are wrong. We took a risk in having elective surgery in which death was a possibility. The deck is stacked in our favor, but there was a chance that the outcome could be negative. So, start smelling the roses, gamble on things a little bit. If you always wanted to roller blade, and now you can, then do it. Who cares what you look like? Screw the people who want to judge you, they don't matter. What matters is taking advantage of this second chance. I have shared with you that I'm in the midst of Law Enforcement training and that a fellow WLS person is in the training as well. Last week, we had four days of weapons training in which we pumped a ton of rounds through our weapons. We are required to pick up the "brass" or the shells of the bullets after shooting. As we were bent over picking up the brass from the ground, he said to me just how nice it was to be able to bend down at the waist and pick up stuff. Here is a guy who is enjoying the mundane task of picking stuff up because he can. My life is far from perfect. But the messiness of life is half the fun. I mean if everyday the outcome was known and you had no ups and downs, would it be any fun? It would be like riding a roller coaster on the straight and narrow. Last week as I rode for Special Olympics, I loved flying down the hills on my bike. But in order to do that, I had some difficult climbs. It is like the ying and the yang! Ok, I'm climbing off my soapbox now. However, get out there, take a nice deep breath, feel the pulse of life in your body and LIVE!

Oh, God, Ken -- THANKS for this! Thank you, thank you, thank you! If you ever leave this board I will personally hunt you down! I can't tell you how much I needed to "hear" your voice speak these words. You're the best! Reenie

Amen !! I agree 100% with what Reenie said. I needed to hear this. Have a great day. Judy

Yup! Well Said. Timing is everything. Ken you are wonderful We take life way to serious most of the time. I think I will take your advise and stay away from those scales for a few days & see what happens. Marilyn, the Bearlady

Me, too, Marily -- pinkie swear! Reenie

ahhhh what an excellent post! I LOVE YOU MAN! LoL I had this moment at school. We just had our Field Day event and the last part of the day was paretn versus staff volleyball game. My son attends the school I teach at so he was all jazzed up because one of the other teachers played for the "parents" side, so he starts yelling for me to play too. I would have begged off but his little face suckered me in so I played for the parents side and then rotated in on the staff side! OH MY GOSH I had so much fun! and my SON was impressed and I got the biggest high five (can't hug your mom in front of the ENTIRE school ya know@@) did I score lots of points? NOPE did I spike it? NOPE DId I love every minute of feeling ALIVE ?? YEPPERS! DID I love feeling my heart beat? YEPPERS! today am I sore and bruised??? YEPPERS! would I do it again! in a heartbeat! LIFE IS TO BE LIVED AND LIVED ABUNDANTLY!!!!!!! Nic 291/161/150

Thanks Ken!!! I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself lately. Your post is a breath of fresh air!!!!! Mike

Thanks Ken, As you all know I had been training for my first 10K and just found out that I have to have my gall bladder out. I have been very depressed since I found out that I can't run my race. But Da*n if I am not going to walk the Dang thing!!! I went down yesterday and changed my wave to the walking wave and now my DH is going to do it with me. I refuse to not LIVE! Love you all!!! Leslie