The Julies in Life - 14 days left

Once in a while, everyone encounters those days that you just wish you could go back to bed and start over again due to the bombardment of unpleasantness that greets you when you wake up.  For me, that was this morning when I awoke to find three out of our five beds wet.  Of course, having to clean up after someone who has wet the bed is not an uncommon occurrence for any parent of small children.  However, I will have to say that three beds at once is a little much for me.

Today is also Monday, which means I could have attended my 6 a.m. workout at CrossFit, but didn't since I was unable to go to sleep until about 2 a.m.  I would be lying if I said I didn't feel some guilt for not biting the bullet and just going anyway.  Each Monday this summer has also been when I have been watching my friend's three children for a summer job she had taken.  And if your weekends go somewhat like mine do having multiple children, there is already enough cleanup work to do without taking into consideration the mound of bedding from what I am now affectionately calling, "Wet Bed Fest 2011".

As I stewed in my huge pot of "poor me" soup, I then did what every red blooded American would do in their time of crisis.  I sat down at my computer and logged into Facebook, so all of my friends could hear of my "oh, so sad" morning as well and sympathize.  However, as I typed my pitiful comment that was sure to bring a tear to any mother's eye, I noticed another comment that had been posted on my wall 11 minutes before I turned to Facebook to share my woes.

My friend Julie, who has been cheering me on from the start of my journey, posted:

"Champions aren't made in the gym.  Champions are made from something they have deep down inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision". - Muhammad Ali....You're a champion, Karen.  Keep fighting for all that's deep down inside of you!

I was speechless.  Few words packed with so much meaning.  On a morning when I had not felt like a champion at all, my friend had called me one.  As my fight has had more than one flicker in it over the past few weeks, she prompted me to keep fighting.   And as my vision has somewhat waned as I get closer to day 118 knowing I won't make my goal, she reminded me of the purpose I carry deep inside of me to get healthy anyway.

There are times when we all need our Julies.  There are other times when we are the Julies to others.  I am glad that my Julie was caring enough to take the time to post to my wall this morning.  Without it, I would have walked around as a loser today instead of feeling like a champion.


1 Thessalonians 5:11 (The Message) - Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you're already doing this; just keep on doing it.

WOD (Workout of the Day)

• Kickboxing