Countdown

Well, a little over 24 hours until I am in the PET scanner.  I can't wait.  Its the next step in tackling this thing head on.  Kendall told me yesterday that he will go with me which made my day.

There really isn't much else to report in my life right now.  I'm good today - over yesterday's funk and back to warfighting mode.  I have been truly touched in the last few days by all the people who have reached out to me.  Some people I barely know have bared their souls and their emotions.  Others have offered to help in any way they can - I just don't know what help I need at this point.  Its been already such a positive outcome of this situation. 

One thing I realized today that I think is worth sharing (hah, you may disagree completely when you get done!) is that we never know the impact any given situation or interaction is going to have on someone else.  My dad shared a story with me today about when I passed the fitness test to get into West Point.  Fitness has never been exactly my strong suit (that probably qualifies as "major" in the understatement category).  At my best I am marginal in everything athletic. 

The first time I took the fitness test was early in my senior year of high school.  I was out of shape and overweight - the results showed that & I don't think I passed any of the 4 events.  I decided to change that and my parents supported me 100%.  They hired a trainer and we made it our mission in life to pass that dumb test.  It was dumb too - you had to do a flexed arm hang, a basketball throw, a standing long jump and a shuttle run.  Really?  What do any of those have to do with anything?  Should've known right then it was just step one in the harrassment that defined West Point! 

Anyway, the day came to take the test again - I don't actually recall that test day with any clarity.  But I do obviously know I passed the test.  My dad told me today that he remembers that moment with perfect precision - that I gave him the biggest hug he ever had in his life and that day he decided I was one of the toughest people he'd ever known.  My mom was one tough chick and my dad has always been one of my heroes - so that is a pretty monumental compliment.  The point of this rambling is that I had no idea what I was doing would have the impact it did on my dad.  I didn't know it would frame his thinking about me for the rest of our lives or that he would remember that hug with the acuity he does.

So, my challenge to myself is to try and remember this - remember that what may be an offhand comment or a passing moment in my life could in fact be transformational in someone else's.  Thats pretty powerful.

And ties into today's image.  This is Kendall and me at my West Point Ring Weekend dance.  Ring Weekend, for the non West Pointers out there, is early in your Senior year - a really big deal to get your ring.  Gosh were we young.  In many ways we don't even look like the same people.  This picture makes me think - because if I hadn't passed that test, if I hadn't decided I wasn't going to let that get me down or if I had given up - not only would I not have had that impact on my dad, but I wouldn't have met Kendall.  So, while the day in the gym during the winter of my high school senior year didn't seem like that big of a deal at the time - really it was, not just in my life but in others as well.  We just never know...