TarHeelMom
Cathlete
Hey you RT'ers, all of ya -- I'm not sure words can express what I feel today (and you all now know that I am nothing if not a wordy girl! ;-)) You're the best and I'm having such fun reading all the posts that sprang up overnight! (Not getting much else done today, actually!)
I want to thank you all again SO much for the Dick's gift certificates and the beautiful card that you surprised me, Deb and Lorrayne with on Saturday night. I'm scanning the card into the computer today so that all three of us can save it forever. We were lumpy-throated reading it. You all are so kind and generous. And not just with the gifts, either. I have never in my life experienced so many warm hugs, heartfelt thank-yous and such a feeling of appreciation as I had this weekend. What a high it ALL was!
If you have a few minutes to read and you'll indulge me, I do want to share something personal with you guys. I had not intended to ever publicly talk about a lot of this stuff, but on the plane home yesterday I decided that I not only would talk about it but SHOULD talk about it, because I want you all to know how perfectly this weekend and YOU were the best medicine in the world for me. I feel just as emotional today as I see many of you do, but for me, the biggest emotion (besides sadness that it's over) is gratitude. This weekend marked a truly dramatic turning point for me -- it came almost exactly at the end of a tough year, and for reasons I'll tell you about, there was a long time when I wasn't at all sure I'd even be able to participate in a single class with you. Life circumstances collided and, really and truly, I fell into terrible physical condition and for the longest time couldn't do much about it.
My year from you-know-where started when I last visited with my mother a year ago this week. Then, horribly, I lost her on September 14, 2006 after she had a huge stroke on September 7th from which she couldn't recover. I spent the next eight months shuttling back and forth to North Carolina for as many days as I could stay and as often as I could get there, helping and propping up my younger sister while we slowly dismantled our parents' house and then sold it. Ugh.
And then in early January I had a pretty nasty and bizarre accident (too long a story to go into, but let's just say that my hand got all tangled up with my sweet little dog's collar in a could-never-be-repeated-if-I-tried kind of way). I had to have microsurgery on my hand, was in a cast and then was in hand therapy until May. I wasn't able to do any cardio for a few weeks, and then for about 8 more weeks was only allowed to use my elliptical trainer a bit (reason: my surgeon's fear that I might fall off the bike, fall off the step or trip and fall doing hi/lo or kickbox --- and knowing me, it was a totally valid fear ;-)). Maybe even worse, I couldn't lift any weights AT ALL or put any weight on my right hand for the entire first five months of the year. You all shoulda seen me trying to coordinate my 2-to-3-times-weekly PT appointments with my crazed trips to NC.
I couldn't imagine in the WORLD I was going to be able to help my sister with the physical task of getting our folks' house cleaned out and ready for the April 29th sale closing, but the surgeon and the therapist (both women, I might add) were fantastically understanding and really worked hard to help me be able to do what I had to do. And it all got done, but meanwhile back at the farm, with every passing day I resembled a Catheite less and less.
Debbie and Lorrayne, and of course Cathe too, knew about all of this and I'm telling you, they just wrapped me up in encouragement and comfort. Man oh man. You all experienced firsthand how wonderful they are, but trust me, what you felt is just a hint of what amazingly great, warm, loving women they are. I love them dearly. Not one time did they suggest to me -- or allow me to suggest -- that I should pull out of the RT. After my family's vacation in early June, when I finally had an unbroken stretch of time at home to concentrate on working out and when my hand was better (it'll never be 100% again but I've recovered most of the function) and I was officially "cleared" to lift as much as I wanted and to do step, kickbox, etc., I hit the ground running and they cheered me on constantly as I pushed real hard for six weeks to try to get myself physically ABLE to do the Road Trip. My goal was pretty simple: to be able to finish the classes.
And today, I feel absolutely triumphant because I did it, and I feel profoundly grateful to you all, because there isn't a doubt in my mind that what got me to the finish line was YOUR energy and YOUR sincere appreciation for the work that Deb, Lorrayne and I have done with Cathe and her staff. My old creaky knees were achy (they're miraculously fine today), and there were a lot of moments when I felt pooped and pretty darned frumpy when I looked in the mirror at myself (and Deb and Lorrayne, God love 'em, heard about every one of my moments of self-doubt and all I can say is that they have the patience of Job). And then, I would get out there amongst all of you, and into that room, and I would feel this wave coming off of all of you that kept me psyched and gave me another lift, just when I needed it. Incredible.
I hope this won't come across like a "poor little me" story, because I sure don't mean it that way, and my gosh, I am SO aware that my blessings are many, my troubles are tiny and mostly behind me, and whatever problems I have or had, they're nothing compared to those of so many, including some of our own Road Trippers who are facing tough personal battles of different kinds. My prayers and my heart are right there with them. But now that I can say I accomplished my goal, I just had to let the cat out of the bag and try to tell you all what this has meant to me. I'll never, ever forget this, or you guys.
So let's do it again next year, shall we??? My new goal: For you to see less of me next year, if you get my drift. ;-) I can't wait to see you all again, and I hope many, many new RT faces, too!
Hugs hugs and more hugs, and thank you from the bottom of my heart again!!!!!
http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S. http://planetsmilies.net/sport-smiley-5536.gif
I want to thank you all again SO much for the Dick's gift certificates and the beautiful card that you surprised me, Deb and Lorrayne with on Saturday night. I'm scanning the card into the computer today so that all three of us can save it forever. We were lumpy-throated reading it. You all are so kind and generous. And not just with the gifts, either. I have never in my life experienced so many warm hugs, heartfelt thank-yous and such a feeling of appreciation as I had this weekend. What a high it ALL was!
If you have a few minutes to read and you'll indulge me, I do want to share something personal with you guys. I had not intended to ever publicly talk about a lot of this stuff, but on the plane home yesterday I decided that I not only would talk about it but SHOULD talk about it, because I want you all to know how perfectly this weekend and YOU were the best medicine in the world for me. I feel just as emotional today as I see many of you do, but for me, the biggest emotion (besides sadness that it's over) is gratitude. This weekend marked a truly dramatic turning point for me -- it came almost exactly at the end of a tough year, and for reasons I'll tell you about, there was a long time when I wasn't at all sure I'd even be able to participate in a single class with you. Life circumstances collided and, really and truly, I fell into terrible physical condition and for the longest time couldn't do much about it.
My year from you-know-where started when I last visited with my mother a year ago this week. Then, horribly, I lost her on September 14, 2006 after she had a huge stroke on September 7th from which she couldn't recover. I spent the next eight months shuttling back and forth to North Carolina for as many days as I could stay and as often as I could get there, helping and propping up my younger sister while we slowly dismantled our parents' house and then sold it. Ugh.
And then in early January I had a pretty nasty and bizarre accident (too long a story to go into, but let's just say that my hand got all tangled up with my sweet little dog's collar in a could-never-be-repeated-if-I-tried kind of way). I had to have microsurgery on my hand, was in a cast and then was in hand therapy until May. I wasn't able to do any cardio for a few weeks, and then for about 8 more weeks was only allowed to use my elliptical trainer a bit (reason: my surgeon's fear that I might fall off the bike, fall off the step or trip and fall doing hi/lo or kickbox --- and knowing me, it was a totally valid fear ;-)). Maybe even worse, I couldn't lift any weights AT ALL or put any weight on my right hand for the entire first five months of the year. You all shoulda seen me trying to coordinate my 2-to-3-times-weekly PT appointments with my crazed trips to NC.
I couldn't imagine in the WORLD I was going to be able to help my sister with the physical task of getting our folks' house cleaned out and ready for the April 29th sale closing, but the surgeon and the therapist (both women, I might add) were fantastically understanding and really worked hard to help me be able to do what I had to do. And it all got done, but meanwhile back at the farm, with every passing day I resembled a Catheite less and less.Debbie and Lorrayne, and of course Cathe too, knew about all of this and I'm telling you, they just wrapped me up in encouragement and comfort. Man oh man. You all experienced firsthand how wonderful they are, but trust me, what you felt is just a hint of what amazingly great, warm, loving women they are. I love them dearly. Not one time did they suggest to me -- or allow me to suggest -- that I should pull out of the RT. After my family's vacation in early June, when I finally had an unbroken stretch of time at home to concentrate on working out and when my hand was better (it'll never be 100% again but I've recovered most of the function) and I was officially "cleared" to lift as much as I wanted and to do step, kickbox, etc., I hit the ground running and they cheered me on constantly as I pushed real hard for six weeks to try to get myself physically ABLE to do the Road Trip. My goal was pretty simple: to be able to finish the classes.
And today, I feel absolutely triumphant because I did it, and I feel profoundly grateful to you all, because there isn't a doubt in my mind that what got me to the finish line was YOUR energy and YOUR sincere appreciation for the work that Deb, Lorrayne and I have done with Cathe and her staff. My old creaky knees were achy (they're miraculously fine today), and there were a lot of moments when I felt pooped and pretty darned frumpy when I looked in the mirror at myself (and Deb and Lorrayne, God love 'em, heard about every one of my moments of self-doubt and all I can say is that they have the patience of Job). And then, I would get out there amongst all of you, and into that room, and I would feel this wave coming off of all of you that kept me psyched and gave me another lift, just when I needed it. Incredible.
I hope this won't come across like a "poor little me" story, because I sure don't mean it that way, and my gosh, I am SO aware that my blessings are many, my troubles are tiny and mostly behind me, and whatever problems I have or had, they're nothing compared to those of so many, including some of our own Road Trippers who are facing tough personal battles of different kinds. My prayers and my heart are right there with them. But now that I can say I accomplished my goal, I just had to let the cat out of the bag and try to tell you all what this has meant to me. I'll never, ever forget this, or you guys.
So let's do it again next year, shall we???
My new goal: For you to see less of me next year, if you get my drift. ;-) I can't wait to see you all again, and I hope many, many new RT faces, too!Hugs hugs and more hugs, and thank you from the bottom of my heart again!!!!!
http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S. http://planetsmilies.net/sport-smiley-5536.gif
