Sunday Morning Message - “Thank you…”
My first “Sunday Morning” message went out April 17th, 2005. From the very beginning, I just wanted to share and hopefully positively affect those that would read them. I feel very blessed that I have been able to continue having this opportunity for so very long. What I had never truly planned on, or thought, was that people would share them with others, pass them along, creating somewhat of a the ripple affect. This brings me great joy and why I continue to do what I do.
My dear friend and first personal training client Jolie sent me an email that seemed to truly capture this. I had mentioned in a previous message this year that at the age of 54 and being a grandmother, she had climbed Pike’s Peak. It was her 3rd attempt and her story truly moved me. Looking back, many of the things I preach on still to this day, came to me while training her. One that has stood the test of time and stands strong today with clients and my class is “I can and I will!” Growing up I was challenged with a father that didn’t see things as I did. I needed to find a belief in myself and I worked very hard at staying focused on that. That is how I was able to achieve many of the things I have in my life. When put in someone else’s life, all I could do is share what I had done and experienced. The main one was to believe in oneself above all else. My belief, message and wish was personified in her recent email and I thought it would be a perfect one to share as my last message of ’09. I read it with tears in my eyes…
Tom, I just opened the Christmas present that my daughter sent me. It is a wooden frame with pictures from the Pikes Peak hike in it and in the bottom left hand corner, she wrote this:
“Only my mother can climb a mountain in cute jeans. I learned that, even when completely spent with the kind of mental, physical and spiritual exhaustion that can only be found 14,000 feet up a mountain, my mom would be a mother regardless of the exhaustion. When her climbing buddy began to fall out, this woman hurried the last ugly 1/2 mile of that mountain to get help. We spectators sat at the top and watched the 20 something’s dragging their tired and broken selves up the last steep switchbacks while my Mom sprinted. My daughters could not have experienced a better life lesson first hand than they did watching their grandma beat the climb. I will file this experience away to be pulled out if ever I hear my girls say, “I can’t”
Tom, You know where I learned, “I can and I will”. I just don’t think that either of us knew that those hours in the gym would become a legacy to the generations to come. Climbing that mountain, I thought a lot about the hours I spent learning how not to quit from you but I had no idea that what I was doing would have an impact on my daughter and granddaughters. - Jolie
I truly thank you all for blessing me with the opportunity to come into your lives every Sunday morning. It has allowed me to give, share and become who I am today, for that, I am forever grateful. And special thanks to Jolie for just being YOU! J
- tjd
