Thankful Thursday - Martha Stewart on Steroids

We can't stress enough how important it is in our own lives to slow down when things seem to be getting "fast" and just think about the little things that we're thankful for. Many of you expressed a similar sentiment last week as 6 people joined forces with us and blogged about their own thankfulness. I have a little "Linky Tools" at the end of this post that you can use to join the party and link up your thankfulness post! Feel free to spread this around to anyone you know that may like to participate.

Mandi's List:

I’m thankful for a wonderful week (last week) with both my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and Ronnie in Whistler, Canada. We had such a wonderful time all together. We ended up skiing more than I thought we would (which ended up being fun) and dinners and breakfast in town were a blast. My favorite part was just relaxing by the fire between skiing and dinner. I was bummed, that my dad had to get back to work, so he headed back to Shanghai Monday morning. Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears...like a big baby!

I’m thankful that all of my diagnostic tests (for IVF) this week turned out well. Not only were the results good, but the tests weren’t all that bad. We did have one little scare, but it all ended up ok. I’ll write a long post about all the tests Monday, so stay tuned.

I’m thankful that my mom is a VERY talented woman. She was nice enough to offer to sew curtains for me and Chrissy (sister-in-law). And man is she good at this kind of stuff. She has a good eye for fabrics, she knows how to measure and calculate how much she’ll need (factoring in the repeat (new lingo I picked up...apparently that’s what you call the reoccurrence of the pattern in a fabric, and you have to factor it in when you’re making curtains), she’s great at knowing what kinds of curtains will look best in a space, AND she can actually produce the vision we’re going for. It’s really incredible actually. She’s like Martha Stewart on steroids! I’ll post pictures when we get all the curtains made.

I’m thankful that we’ve been able to get back into the swing of things after the holidays. God’s given us a renewed vigor for work, exercise and eating right. Oddly, I’m actually excited about the increased working out and eating better (I’m a former - from 0-18 years old - couch potato who loved me some junk food)!

I’m thankful to be starting a new year with my best friend!!

Ronnie's List:

I'm thankful that I was able to spend so much time with family during the holiday season. When getting married, you don't quite know how the ol' "split holidays" are going to happen, but fortunately, we were able to work it out again this year :) We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Mandi's family and then Christmas afternoon with mine. It worked out well and we're just so blessed to have two families that love up on us.

I'm thankful that so far, Mandi is normal. Let me rephrase that as those of you who know Mandi know that is a bold face lie; When it comes to reproduction, Mandi is normal thus far. We've had a battery of tests this week (which I believe Mandi will catch you up on on Monday) and so far, so good. It's looking like God made Mandi with a proper baby maker and we're just praying that things continue to check out.

I'm thankful that I got to ski for the first time and that I didn't kill someone. If you read the blog from a couple of days ago, you'll know that it wasn't the easiest thing I've done, but I'm glad that I finally got the hang of it. I just hate failing. Now, don't get me wrong, I fail all of the time by standard definition, but true failure to me is not lacing up the shoes and trying again. I was bound and determined to ski down that stupid mountain, and by the third day, that's exactly what I did :)

Going Home is NOT an Option

First off, I hope that everyone had an unbelievable holiday season and that the first few days of this new year have been nothing but splendid.

I wanted to circle back a bit and update those who have asked, about my most recent "death defying" experience. I am of course talking about my ski trip in Whistler, Canada that I was able to enjoy with my beautiful wife and my ever so lovely in-laws. If you need a refresher on the first day of my trip, please click here. If you want to skip the refresher and just hear the spark notes, here they are:

- Put on skis.

- Went down hill.

- Tried to stop.

- Veered off to the right.

- Almost hit a tree.

- Lost ski in 4 feet of snow.

- Back on feet.

- Fell another 462 times.

- Out of energy.

- Scared of killing myself or others.

- Clicked off skis.

- Walked a mile down the mountain.

That should clear it up. Needless to say, the first day of skiing didn't go as planned and I was very disappointed with the results. I had made it abundantly clear that I was no where near done skiing, I was just done for that day. It got to the point where I felt like a complete liability on the hill and a danger to myself and others...certainly not the best feeling in the world. Not to be deterred, after a good night of rest, I was back on the slopes the following morning. Not only was I back, but I was eager. As I've mentioned many times before on this blog, I'm a competitor. I don't care what it is. If there is a winner and a loser, I'm in. And although there was a clear loser (me) on that first day, I was bound and determined to make sure that there was a different loser (the mountain) the second day.

My goal heading up the hill was a simple one: Do better than I did the day before. I had set the bar so low, that simply staying upright on skis for more than 15 seconds was really all that I needed to do. After a little bit of practice and a lot of encouragement from Mandi, I was beating that stupid hill like a red headed step-child. PAUSE: Where in the heck did that saying come from? If anybody has any idea, please let me know. And I'm sorry to all the red headed step-children out there. I have no interest in beating you up. My biggest mistake the day before was biting off more than I could chew. I thought I would be able to put on the skis and just "get it". That was most definitely not the case.

I think this is a common pitfall in many areas of our lives though. We set out to do something, something that we haven't done before or for a really long time, we fail and then we click off our skis and go home. It would have been much smarter for me to start with the training hill from day one. Or start with trying to increase to 2 treatments a day before going for 4. Or just walking 3 times a week before trying to walk every day. You get the picture. We often have this "go big or go home" attitude, that, although I admire (and am often guilty of), can get us into real trouble. When we're trying to make a life change that is incredibly important to our health, "going home" isn't an option. We may not need to "go big" at first, but we definitely need to go. Just click on your skis and commit to doing the bunny hill before you try to tackle the black diamond.

So that's what I did. I was determined to be the best training hill skier on the slope. Sure, it was a little embarrassing at times skiing next to 3 year olds, but who knows what their story is; they could have been born in an igloo for all I know. Me on the other hand was born on the surface of the sun (Arizona) and had never worn a pair of skis in my life. Completing a full run down that training hill and turning back and forth while doing it, was nothing short of exhilarating. More important, fully committing to the training hill for the entire second day, put me in the position to tackle the same mountain that had defeated me just two days prior. In fact, I went back to that same spot where I lost my ski and started from there. All I could think about as I skied down that mountain was how far I had come. I went from being the defeated to the victor. From the guy walking a mile down the mountain with a bruised ego (and shins) to the guy carving that mountain with the very same skis I couldn't put on two days prior. I set out to do something and I did it. It wasn't without pain, disappointment and frustration sprinkled through out, but I guarantee you that those set backs made the victory that much sweeter.

So as we enter this new year, I encourage all of you to pick out the mountain that you're going to ski. It could be to be more faithful with exercise. Maybe it's getting in an extra treatment per day. It could be increasing your lung function. Whatever it is, pick it out and now go to the training hill. After you're comfortable with that and it feels like you could ski down it with your eyes closed, join me in skiing down the mountain. Don't forget to enjoy the ride and remember all of the hard work you put in to get where you are as you're coasting down the slope. You earned it.

I'll see all of you at the bottom of the mountain.

Side note: This was the 700th post on RSBR. Yippee!!

Failure: How Do YOU Define it?

“A man may fall many times, but he won't be a failure until he says that someone pushed him.”

So I went skiing yesterday for the first time since, oh let's see, ever. Let's just say that I'm not a natural born skier. Being raised my entire life in Arizona, snow and I have never been able to really get to know each other on any sort of level. I've seen him on TV and read about him from time to time, but only met him face-to-face less than 10 times. During my other meetings I've only thrown him, walked on him, slid down him and once tried to board on him.

FLASHBACK: It was January of the year 2000 and I was on some big ol' mountain outside of Seattle. My buddies were really into snowboarding and wanted to hit the slopes. Being that I didn't want to be left behind and I'm decently athletic, I joined them. We started on the bunny hills as I tried to successfully slide for 20 feet without falling down. Not sure if I ever accomplished my goal, but I do know that I got very bored of the bunny slope and decided to do whatever slope they were on. As we got off the lift and I stared down the mountain, I knew in the back of my mind that I would be in trouble. Nevertheless, I went for it and tried to cut back and forth as much as I could. After going about 100 yards and falling who knows how many times, while watching it seemed like 100 6 year olds whiz by me, I got admittedly frustrated and decided I was done cutting back and forth. I (stupidly) decided to go full speed ahead and get to the bottom of the mountain as quick as possible. Not good. I was humming along with a clear path ahead of me when all of the sudden, a group of those 6 year olds decided to have a pow wow right in path down the hill. I didn't know how to properly stop and I didn't want to be responsible for taking out a group of kids, so I bailed. As I was going end over end down the slope all I could think about was taking them out despite my best efforts. Fortunately I came to a halt about 10 yards before I hit them. I was laying there, dazed and confused when I man in a bright orange jacket came skiing up to me, " Dude, are you ok?" he asked. "Uhh, I think so" I replied. "Cool, that was awesome!!!" he seemed to shout with excitement. I happened to think it was the opposite of awesome. I clicked off my board and walked up the hill approximately 40 yards to grab my beanie which had been flung off my head. It was easy to find since I was able to not only track the big divots of snow, but also the blood that had come from my nose. After I grabbed my beanie, down the mountain I walked, feeling like a pretty big failure. On the bright side, I was able to watch the entire Rose Bowl while sipping on some coffee in the lodge.

Ok, so back to my experience yesterday. Being told that skiing is easier than snow boarding, we decided that I could just learn on the fly. We got off the lift and picked the easiest way down. My first attempt to go down the mountain resulted in me stopping 5 yards short of a tree, in powder 4 feet deep and Mandi having to fish my right ski out of the snow. Then after many more failed attempts, a ski patrol came over to us and "suggested" we go to the training slope first while eluding to the fact that I could be a danger to the rest of the people on the mountain. By this point I was already pretty exhausted (man the air is thin up here), so I clicked off the skis and waited for Eric (father-in-law) to meet up with us so he could give me some lessons. My issue was three fold: I couldn't stop, when I tried to stop I veered off to the right and I felt out of control the entire time.

After a quick break, we went to the training hill and after many rides up the "magic carpet", I really got the hang of stopping, turning, cutting and all of that other stuff. We then took a lift to a higher portion of the training hill and I was able to make my way down the entire slope without any falls and feeling mostly in control the entire time. I was pretty confident I could take another crack at going down the easiest hill again. Wrong. I did alright the first 200 yards or so. But as it seemed to get steeper and steeper, I felt less and less in control. I started falling almost every 20 yards and then it got to the point where my legs felt like jelly. Not only that, but I felt so wiped, that I feared I had lost the ability to protect myself. After a fall on my right side that knocked the air out of me, I was done. I clicked my skis off a started my way down the hill. I had nothing left. Frustrated. Discouraged. Sore. Out of breath. Embarrassed. Pissed. Tired. And I'm sure a dozen of other feelings overtook my body. I had great support in my wife and in-laws, but nothing they could say would make it better. I failed.

But, as always, there's a lesson in this. I'm sitting here, doing my treatments and LOOKING FORWARD to getting back on those slopes. I told them yesterday that I was no where near done, just done for that day. My only goal today is to be the best darn skier the world has ever known...on the training slope. I seriously want to master that sucker. I don't care if I do nothing else this entire trip. If all of those little 6 year olds can do it, then certainly, so can I! Failure doesn't happen when you set out to meet a goal and come short, failure happens when you give up. And like the quote says that started this blog out, it really happens when we start to blame everybody else but the person in the mirror. I know I can do it. It's just a matter of putting those skis back on and going for it. Wish me luck.