A little over two years ago we lost our dear daughter, Mary Catherine. My friend, Overdraft had told me about F3 and I showed interest to be polite, but I knew I would never participate in a boot camp style workout! Throughout the time right after her passing, he would continue to mention F3 to me. I feel like I was in a fog during those days and I guess that his encouragement reached me on a subconscious level. All I remember is that my oldest son, Bradford and I showed up on February 6, 2015 at Flood Zone. Overdraft had said to me “you can do anything for 45 minutes”. I kept telling myself that through the painful blur of running and exercises lead by Deliverance. I am glad Bradford (Rest Stop) was with me, so I really had to make it through to show him Dad was still tough – Ha! Part of me thought, I will never do this again, but something inside felt really good after experiencing my first COT. Anyway, here I am 2 years later, really enjoying leading workouts and feeling bad when I can’t post. I was truly a “Sad Clown” 2 years ago, overweight, out of shape, and not getting any younger. Now I feel motivated to workout even when I can’t post, and am in better shape than I have been in decades, (yes decades).
5 PAX joined YHC on North Hills Astroturf to celebrate 2 years
SSH x 25
Imp Walker x 15
Good Morning x 15
Windmills x 15
leg over leg stretch Q count 10 ea. leg
Prayer Squats x 15
Plank calf stretch Q count 10 ea.
Mountain Climbers x 15
Mosey to fountain for Classic 5 pyramid!
Irkins, Dips, left/right step ups (or alt), Derkins, Elevated Crunch
x 9, x 12, x 15, x 18, x 15, x 12, x 9
Mosey back to turf for Dirty McDice (McDeuce)
A little fuzzy on exact exercises here, of course per tradition Tin Cup calls number (15)
Squats, flutter kicks, Freddie Merc, Am hammer, Box Cutter, SSH, Imp Walker, Windmills, Homer to Marge and Nipplers were all a part of this portion
Ended with Nipplers to fail (or 30, whichever came first)
Done
Crawl it in
Announcements: Mule, watch twitter for updates
Prayer requests, sorry cant remember specific, but I do know Rainman took us out with an eloquent prayer
I was about to write a bunch of superlatives describing Mary Catherine, I realize there are no words to truly express. No words to express how I feel, how she brightened my life, how she touched people, how she loved and was loved. All I know is that I, and everyone else who interacted with her, was blessed to have known her for the short time she was here on earth. Frankly, although I know she was a great camp counselor and had worked with the youth program at the church and was involved in extracurricular activities at school, I did not realize the impact she had on people. This fact became quite evident as we stood for hours greeting the people who attended her memorial service. Friends, former teachers, family friends and so many fellow counselors and campers from Cheerio came in a never ending line of folks extending their condolences. I miss you so much MC, I miss our talks about music and movies, about life (good and bad) and most of all your groans and expressions when you would react to my bad puns!
This next part is especially hard to write, but so important! All I know to say is to love your children, hug them, tell then you love them all the time. Teach them by example; be careful what you do, because they are always watching. Realize the responsibility! I don’t think any of us as parents realize just how our children look up to us. This is true particularly in those teen years when they are going through the process of separation to become adults. Be involved; know their friends, where they go, what they do, who they associate with. They say you can never know what is inside a person. This was so very true with Mary Catherine. She was so convincing that she was ok. So many times when she was experiencing depression and we would talk or even get her to speak to a professional. She would always seem to “bounce back” and outwardly appear as though things were going well again. We never knew that there was something deep and dark inside of her. Something that, thank God, most of us will never be able to understand or have to experience. Depression is real. Depression is not just being upset because you loose a game or make a bad grade or break up with someone. Those are all times when we are “down” or sad. Depression is sinister, it can be so destructive and yet not visible to those who are close to the individual who is experiencing it. Depression is s symptom of our society. It is epidemic. As parents we want to protect our children from the bad things out there in the world. What we don’t realize is how inherent some of the worst of it is within our society. There is tremendous peer pressure, no matter how much you try to teach your children that people are the most important thing in this world, not possessions, position and wealth. Our society bombards our children with images of who to be and how to be in order to be liked, to be popular. Also, sex pervades our music, our movies and TV. Someone once asked me, “What do you think most people’s greatest fear is?” His answer was simply, acceptance. Think about it, we all want to belong, we all want to be loved, to be needed. This is particularly strong in our kids who are struggling to find out who they are and who they will be in this world.
Love your children; let them know that love is the answer. Be an example, lead with love daily, pray for patience. Help them to know that all material things pass but that love endures.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love
