This past Sunday (July 10, 2011) I traveled to Nashville and the Gaylord’s Opryland Hotel for the Annual National Conference for School Nutrition. The trip began in Sacramento to change planes in San Diego and on the Nashville.

While awaiting the departure from San Diego to Nashville I met a man that will live in my minds eye from now on. I was sitting half watching people and the women’s soccer team advance to the semi finals, and then I saw Mike.

Mike walked across the terminal with determination and strength of character and a big grin. He was headed to get a drink and watch some of the game. After he ordered his drink and eventually found a chair to sit in is when I noticed? It was as he hopped up on the tall chair and leaned on the small counter top. He is a double amputee.

I watched him for a few minutes and then walked over and began a conversation with him. Yes, I asked him how long he had been as he is now. Mike, with no hesitation and a smile answered me “since 2001”.

He began to tell me how that one day at work in the San Jose area of California his legs were hurting and aching a bit. He ignored it for a while, and eventually went to see the doctor about the pain and discomfort a few days later.

He later discovered that he had a rare aggressive infection/decease that would result in losing both his legs to save his life. Mike is grateful to be alive and gets around in an amazing fashion today. Yet it took some getting used to and getting through and over some issues.

He had to get over the “why me” questioning. Through the conversation he told me that the way he did get over that debilitating “why me” questioning was to focus on the fact that he is alive and begin to enjoy his “NOW”!

The next thing he worked through was how to regain his independence. This meant prostatic legs and learning to walk all over again. Because he desperately desired his independence he endured the pain. Mike told me the pain of being trapped by his legs was a greater pain than learning to walk with his prostatic legs.

Finally he laughed and said that he had to get used to the intense pat down or rub down (as he put it) while traveling through airports. They get real personal with him in security. The entire time we talked he smiled and laughed.

Life; is meant to be lived with smiles and laughter. Incidents do not have the power to trap you in despair and anguish, only your choice does. Decide now to live. Put a smile on and get out there and laugh out loud more than you have.

Thanks Mike for your influence on me.

Enjoy your endeavor and remember I am Matt and I am your friend. Anytime I can do something for you in helping you discover your best just reach out to me at matt@onthemoveforward.com

Tags: Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Mentoring, self control

This entry was posted on July 14, 2011 at 10:05 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in General by matt No Comments Yet