July 28, 2013
I went to church where Stephen and Leah talked a little about their upcoming journey to Kyrgyzstan. I still can’t believe they’re moving there for a couple years to join some sort of chicken business. Crazy!
After that, we made our way out to the burbs for a party at pastor Joe Riccardi’s cousin’s house - Mike and Jackie. They call it a Riccardi Party (pronounced Rikotty Potty, spoken loudly). There were other family members there and lots of people from church. Mike and Jackie are great. They are all italian so we ate really, really, really well. They have a great house with tons of games and activities in the backyard including monkey bars, a zip line, pickle ball on a tennis court, volleyball… probably more. I got jealous of everyone playing sports so did a few pullups on the monkey bars (they are kid height), wheelchair with backpack and all! It got a few laughs. Wish I had a pic so you can believe me.
After dinner Joe went around and asked a few people to share their testimony. When he asked me to talk, it went well until I mentioned the accident, then started sobbing a little. I hate that. Can’t control it. I talked about how it has changed my life and how it’s frankly just terrible. But also how it has brought me so much closer to God and how clear His plan is to me now. I feel like that’s what it’s like - seeing God’s plan - it’s either blurry and foggy, or clearer and clearer. I talked about how Rebecca and I had a plan that worked out very well for both God and us, but didn’t necessarily include much suffering for His sake. It was a convenient arrangement. And now that we are experiencing so much suffering, it is very clear to me how I can use the suffering to do His will. I should also look at other ways to change my life so that I am really pushing my comfort levels to do His will, not just stuff that makes me feel good.
I am directly below the photographer here so you can’t see me. The guy on the steps is talking about his story. Another good one.
July 29, 2013
Therapy/training in the morning. Now that Jeremy is gone, I get subs. On this day I had Jillian. Holy cow did she push me! She started nicely asking if 30 minutes was okay on the treadmill. I told her my records were 41 minutes and 0.52 miles and that we should try to break one of those or both. Once she realized my attitude she kind of went nuts and we starting doing crazy stuff - walking backwards on the treadmill, interval training much more intensely than I had done before, and more that I’ll explain in a sec. In the interval training I was doing 1.4 mph, which is a PR for me. I was so exhausted by the walking backwards that I didn’t have tons of energy left. And I wanted to try the crutches again, so I only went 1/3 of a mile.
We went to the 9th floor where they have a sweet track system. I think I already posted a video of that. With the crutches I made it two laps this time, or 520 feet! Definitely a PR for me. Just two sessions prior I was barely able to make it back and forth a few time for probably less than 100 ft. It’s nice to be getting the hang of it. When I practice with the walker at home it seems lame now. So 4 stars for Jillian. Good day.
July 30, 2013
Today I headed to the burbs for a co-op board meeting for Papa John’s. It was nice to see the guys again and talk kind marketing strategy for several hours straight. Right up my alley. Thanks to my dad for driving and I’m glad he got to hang out and see what the banter was like.
After the meeting I had a series of work calls and then worked out at home. The highlight was heading out to my first wheelchair sporting practice. After hitting some balls they invited me to go with them this weekend to compete in Nebraska. Kind of nuts consider I hadn’t even taken the field, yet. But I think they are short on guys or something. I had to say no since it’ll be my birthday and we are going to an event with the Bears on Saturday where I’ll be representing PJs. Here’s a pic of the field:
It’s kind of cool - sponsored by the Cubs and the Chicago Park District. It even has a scoreboard. You use specialized chairs, too (thanks, RIC), that have slanted wheels for quick spinning and speed and they can’t tip back at all. There’s a bar that goes around the front in case you ram each other trying to make it to a base! Crazy! Can’t wait to get into this stuff more. Apparently wheelchair rugby is pretty intense. Sled hockey just SOUNDS cool.
That’s about it. Great couple of days.
God bless!
G’night -
Chip
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