1) One Point Five: The Journey Begins.

Today, Monday June 2nd at 7:30 AM, I opened the side door of my house and stared down upon what I have always considered just a normal step that I take to "Everyday". But not today. Today the step seemed to stare back at me, almost challenging me, and I knew that once I stepped down off of it, onto the driveway and down the street, my life would forever change.

Like most people, I don't remember taking my first steps as a baby. Being the youngest of six, I doubt it was a very big deal at the time. (Has anyone seen Roger? Oh there he is standing by the street. I guess he's walking now. Please pass the corn). And while I would like to think that my Mom (Hope) was there standing beside me for the big event, chances are she probably viewed it from heaven. Either way, I'm sure she was watching over me, making sure I was OK...

Friday, I met with my friend/trainer (Rick) and discussed my training schedule for the Boston Marathon. As I'm not really a big fan of walking/running, I have put it on the backburner of life's necessities. Somehow Rick, in his infinite wisdom, had already figured that out about me and knew I had to start off slow. Very slow. So my first assignment was to chart out a course of 3 miles, making sure that the ending point was the same as the starting point. I decided to call this point "Home". Using skills I obtained from my many years of schooling and applying these skills through a series of extremely complicated calculations, I was able to determine that my "turning point" would be 1.5 miles. One Point Five

Since "Home" is on a relatively busy street, it was issued a nice big sidewalk that has been a route for joggers for many many years. Matter of fact, if I was a little more industrious, I really should consider setting up a juice stand or maybe a toll booth on the sidewalk as the foot traffic is actually quite intense at times. But I digress.

I hopped in my car and reset the odometer. zero point zero Following the street away from the sun, I was surprised just how far a mile actually was. one point zero Much to my surprise, I was already in the next town over when the odometer clicked to one point one and realized that the sidewalk had suddenly disappeared, and I was forced to continue my course off of the main street and onto a small side street. one point three

It was at this point that I sensed something was happening that was bigger than me. You see, even though I didn't grow up anywhere near where I now lived, not even in the same state, I had actually been on this street many times before. As I drove up the street, the odometer updated itself. one point four

As I realized my "turning point" was approaching, I decided to make a turn into a cemetery and I was faced with a very steep hill. Rick had mentioned that I should try to incorporate some hills in my route if at all possible because unless you are running a marathon in Arizona, hills are going to be popping up just trying to ruin your day. I drove to the top of the hill and my car made a right turn almost out of habit and after about 30 feet, I watched the odometer change. One Point Five.

I stopped the car and realized that something quite close to miraculous had happened. As I looked out my window, there was a headstone with the simple word HOPE on it. A simple word for a person that I never knew, but a person I knew by a different name. Mom.

Today I took my first step on a path that will forever change my life, and my Mom was there to see me do it, making sure I was OK.

UPDATE: It has been over three years since I updated this blog but today I wanted to update this with a video I created a few week ago for a CF fundraiser. I am posting this video here today because, as my brother reminded me earlier today, today marks the 50th anniversary of my mom's death. So beyond running to her grave and saying a prayer, I decided to post the video I created about her. It's just something I needed to do. Thanks for watching over me mom. I hope I have made you proud of me. :)