A Tale of Two Childs

Each year the Women in Business Committee nominates an award called the "Athena" award. This award goes to an outstanding woman who embodies the qualities of strength, courage, wisdom and enlightenment.

This year the winner was Meg Johnson. I have known who Meg was since Jr High. She was friends with my older brother, and frankly, I think he had a crush on her for many years. To be honest, I was jealous of her. I secretly admired her, and did not really take the chance to get to know her. She was beautiful, confident and charismatic- That Meg was cool.

Fast forward a few years. My big brother comes home and tells me that his friend Meg had been in a horrible accident and broke her neck. She was in the hospital for a long time and when she went home, my brother and I visited her occasionally on Sunday afternoons.

A situation like that is so hard- they don't want to be pitied, but you ache for them and their challenge. I did not know how to act at first, I was never comfortable around her before, she was so cool- and I- well I wasn't. Now she faced a long road and I just did not know what to do. Meg was so welcoming to us, she made me feel welcome and like my visit brightened her day. Amazing, amazing girl.

I remember seeing pages and pages of paper at her home that she was practicing writing again- as her brother once said to me "her penmanship is better than mine." She cannot hold a pen like we normally learn how to. The weight of her arm is what she uses to apply pressure to write, and she has to weave the pen through her fingers so it will stay put. Now she draws and sells her Art to fund Miss Wheelchair Utah.

Well, I got married and my brother and I stopped visiting. I ran into Meg a couple of times with work where I learned she founded Miss Wheelchair Utah, was becoming an institute teacher, was an artist and many many other neat things. Then came the 2012 Athena award.

I went to the luncheon to watch her receive her award and I realized that this girl who intimidated me years ago was now a role model for what I can be when I decide I want to be something more. She was honored with a standing ovation- and I struggled to hold back tears. What a phenomenal example of strength and courage- and an example of never giving up.

Every time I run into her- I leave with a huge smile on my face. I am so grateful for her example and her willingness to take her challenges in stride and "keep on rollin" (that is her motto). I am grateful for her willingness to accept me- and treat me as a friend- even though we did not know eachother well. I am grateful for her patience with me, as I learned how to act around the new Meg- and her making me feel at ease.

I am grateful for her art- that is hanging in my office- that reminds me that even if I face a lot of challenges- I can still create beauty in the lives of others.
She is still beautiful, charismatic and confident. That Meg, she is so cool.

2011 Child Family Top 10
1: We both stayed at the same Jobs. Caleb working Construction for RMC, Rachel working for GENCO.
2: We were blessed with 3 new nieces. Two on the McGraw side, one on the Child side.
3: We were blessed to go to St. George and Trial Lake for some vacation and family time.
4: Rachel decided to do a 100 Mile bike ride on June 4th, and is still living to compile the top 10!
5: We got to be a part of Caleb's Sister, Kasey's, wedding party in July. It was a perfect day!
6: Rachel was in another dinner theater murder mystery for Halloween. This keeps her busy so Caleb can get his schoolwork done!
7: While working full time and going to school, Caleb undertook the monstrous endeavor of replacing the siding and windows of our home, we are not quite finished but it already looks so great with Caleb's touch!
8: With Caleb's encouragement, Rachel created the website: www.shavemyheadif.com. If the website can raise enough money to pay off our mortgage, Rachel will shave her head. No, that is not a joke, check it out!
9:Caleb put together another family softball team this summer. It was way fun to do something together that he enjoys so much.
10: We could not think of a number ten. Anticlimactic, I know.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This picture was taken in April of 2011. This is my immediate family. My parents and 4 big brothers.

Growing up, I thought I was cursed. The only girl, four older brothers. Once, for my birthday- I was probably 6ish, I asked my mom for a sister. When she told me that was not possible, I politely informed her that she could adopt. (I have always been a caring child...) In retrospect, Heavenly Father knew what he was doing by placing me in the family I have (imagine that... God, knowing what is best for me...)

I have 4 big brothers. They are all big influences in my life and phenomenal examples to me of what it means to be a good person. They are all so willing to share their time and talents with Caleb and I. Now I find that I LOVE being the only girl among 4 brothers. They all have married wonderfully talented women- who make wonderful sisters.

I love and admire those 4 great men- more than is safe to express among a group of dudes. I am so blessed to have them in my life.

So- if you don't know my spouse, he is a very talented builder. I swore we would never build a house- but we all know what happens when we say "I would never..." Since we have purchased a home, and it is not perfect to Caleb's standards he is not pleased with many things about it- I am sure we will build a house someday. Due to the economy and since he is currently still in the construction field, we have taken the opportunity to replace the windows and siding on our current house hopefully making it more tolerable for the perfectionist I love.



Attached are a couple of pictures of the progress. Caleb- who works 40+ hours a week, has 9 credit hours at school and is trying to complete this monster project continues to impress me by how hard he works. I will post progress pictures occasionally.

My friend Jacqui used the title quote from Doctrine & Covenants on Sunday. When I heard it, I recalled a situation I had in college where a roommate told me that, though her father was not very present in her life, she had always enjoyed the "finer things in life." I remember thinking at that time that though I did not always have the most expensive things or brand named clothes, the finer things in my life were not things, they are people.

My heart was filled with gratitude as I realized all of the phenomenal people that are in my life, have been in my life, and how blessed I am, this is truly far greater than the treasures of the earth. You can replace a car, you can rebuild a home, but you can never replace the people who are in your life. You can never remove what they have taught you.

So to all of the people in my life: Thank you for adding the colors to my world that make my life so rich and beautiful. I am so grateful for you- for the friendship and love that have made my life so incredibly worthwhile. You are far greater to me than the treasures of the earth.

There is an annual bike ride called Little Red Riding Hood, it takes place in Lewiston, UT (its by Logan). You can ride 35, 50, 80 or 100 miles. 100 miles, in biking, is called a Century... I did not know that til quite recently...anywho... Amy had done the 50 miler last year, and she talked to me about doing the 2011 race: she was going to do the full century this year. I wanted to, I thought training for it might be fun, and it would coincide with my fitness competition, so the timing was great, but it sold out in 16 hours.

The race was on June 4th 2011. Two weeks prior to the ride, a friend posted on Facebook that she was selling her registration for the 100 miler- It sounded fantastic, but 2 weeks notice to train for 100 mile race? Could I do it?

The Saturday before the race, Amy and I rode 27 miles. It felt great. Just me and the music, and a fantastic road bike that Amy's husband let me use... I LOVED IT! I have never loved exercising so much. I got to go about 15 MPH pretty much the whole time, and the bike was so lightweight.

My cousin offered me her road bike to ride for the century (when riding that long, it really is important to have an actual road bike), I really wanted to complete the full 100 miles, but they did have turn offs at 50 and 80... so I would just keep going, I thought, as long as I could.

The Monday before the ride: memorial day: Amy and I rode from Kaysville to Hooper and back. It was just shy of 47 miles- I was pretty tired and sore, but I loved it. I talked to some folks at the bike shop, they told me that if I did another 20 or so during the week, I would be fine. Well I came down with a cold... I was feeling pretty crappy, so I did not ride at all after memorial day.

Saturday came. Amy's hubby checked our tires and made sure we were all set (it is an all women's ride). We started. The picture is only at mile 10 or so, so we look great! ( : The first few miles Amy stuck with me. She had trained for this... we sang songs from Little Shop of Horrors to keep us busy. After the first stop, I told Amy she could ride as she wished. She would hit stops before I did, and she waited for me, that was kind of her.

I REALLY wanted to finish the century. Up to about mile 75 (I took my GPS watch to tell me where I was at) the ground was fairly level. It was a beautiful day and I thought- as long as the course stayed the way it had the first 75 miles, I could make it. Shortly after the turn off to mile 80 the rolling hills started... At about mile 84, my battery died to my GPS watch, and at about mile 86, ( I asked someone how far we were) my abdomen started cramp. My body was protesting my continued riding. I told it, though, that the only way to end the madness, was to go back the way we came.

I finished the full century! Overall with stops it was 8 hours and 50 minutes. Actual ride time was about 6 hours 50 minutes. And I burned about 4400 calories ( : I had so much fun! The next day I was pretty sore and tired, but I could hardly believe that I had completed a full 100 mile bike ride!

Amy helped put it in perspective as we hit the 50 mile mark. She told me: no matter how far you go, it is the furthest you have ever gone. That was a great perspective. Even if I did 50 miles, that would have been more than I had ever completed at one time. It kept me moving forward as my body protested my continuing existence. I guess that it how it is with life. No matter where you are at, you have never known as much as you do today. Even if today is really lousy, and you are not in a good place, your journey has taught you lessons that only living to this point could, and you can take those mistakes, learn from them and recognize the strength you have gained from the journey.

Thanks Amy, for talking me into this madness. I learned a lot about what I can accomplish if I just keep on pushing, even when it is painful. I LOVE road biking. Perhaps I will continue. Just another fun thing to add to my list for this phenomenal year.

So I entered the Gold's Gym Challenge- On May 14th they announced the winners, but you had to pay 15.00 a ticket to go to the NGA Mountain States competition where they would make the announcement. It is a fitness competition where REALLY fit people come out in their skibbies and flex. I never knew they made bikinis with rhinestones, and I really thought there was a legal limit to how many spray tan's a person could get in one day...turns out there is not, and there are people who get about 5 spray tans in one day and stand in front of judges. To be honest, I did not realize people I go to the gym with actually do that kind of thing... anyway...

Well, I am quite frugal- and I think 15.00 is a pretty big price to pay to see something that I would never choose to see. I would not pay 15.00 to see a movie that I REALLY wanted to see, I would wait for it to come out to the Red Box...So I decided to go to the competition and hang out in the hallway and see if I could get away without paying for my ticket, just to hear my name... They actually have bouncers man the doors at these things. Apparently this is a big deal...

We got there at about 6:15 and I asked the ladies at the table if we could get away without paying... there was really no way... so I asked if I could loiter in the hall til they announced the winner of the local Gold's Gym Challenge- they allowed me to. Finally at about 7:15 they go to announce the winners, and ya know whose name they said first??? MINE! ! ! I won the challenge for the Womens Division! I lost 37.4lbs, 20.25 inches and 9.06% body fat! I was so excited and it felt great. After they announced my name, Caleb ran to get me a ticket (they would not let me in to get my prize even... I still had to pay) I ran up and got my prize and off I went!

One of the class fitness instructors saw me at the competition, but did not hear the winners announced. I went to her class the following Monday and she asked me if I was going to go into the bikini competitions... (HILARIOUS) I laughed and emphatically told her that would not be my cup of tea... but that I had gone to hear the winners of the golds gym competition. She said "oh yeah, I did not hear the winners...did you know who won?" I told her I did and smiled. She asked "who was it?" I said "ME!!!" I think that was my favorite moment of them all. She was so excited for me! I really felt like I had accomplished something!

Below is my essay that I had to write for my entry it could only be 250 words in length... I am really grateful for what the Gold's Gym Challenge taught me, mostly that I can accomplish anything that I decide to truly dedicate my time and energy to: now I just need to decide what to put my efforts toward next! ( :

Essay:
Exhaustion, frustration, strep throat. Stress, bronchitis, relief, elation... these are all words that describe the past 12 weeks as I completed the Gold's Gym Challenge.

I've never been the typical beautiful, small girl. I am tall with broad shoulders. I had gained weight since I got married and I work at a company that distributes for Hershey's Candies. Imagine an all-you-can-eat candy buffet, all the time- sounds great right? Perhaps to your taste buds, but not to the bathroom scale.

I took the challenge because I needed something to motivate me that had a clear deadline and the support that Gold's Gym could offer. I quickly found that I always knew HOW to get healthy, but never the drive. I knew I had strength to become who I wanted to be, but never tested it. I was scared of changing for the better, afraid of failing myself. To avoid disappointment - I just didn't try. I accepted mediocrity and stayed who I didn't want to be.

I distinctly remember one evening at the gym, I had lost 20lbs and felt great. I looked in the full-length mirror and was shocked at how small I looked. With my own eyes I was seeing myself as SMALL! I've always felt uncomfortable in my own skin. It's been a long time since I've felt beautiful. Thanks to the Challenge, I've found my strength and beauty within, finally I have made the lifestyle changes that I can take with me beyond this experience.