What a great question. And the answer is probably not what you would expect. There was not a light bulb that suddenly lit up above my head. There was not a lightning flash or a choir of voices telling me that I needed to change. Thank God, it was not a Doctor telling me to change my ways or I would suffer a heart attack or stroke at an early age. I avoided the Doctor, or I probably would have heard this last one. God works in mysterious ways. And truth be told my A-Ha moment came during an extremely unhealthy weekend of eating junk food and drinking too much alcohol.
It all started during a weekend in June 2009. The family and I were in Des Moines to see some old college friends. As I have talked about in previous posts, my friend Don really caught my attention. He had lost 50 pounds since the previous time I had seen him. He looked great. He was so excited about his new healthy lifestyle and the running that he had been doing. We spent the day catching up with some other old college buddies and their families that day. We ate too much party food, dips, chips, burgers and brats, and drank a whole bunch of cold ones. It is always great to get together with the guys and catch up on everyone's busy lives with their wife and kids. And as always, we sat around the campfire and told stories from the old days. The glory days when we were all back in college and having way too much fun. After a few hours of sitting around the fire, embarrassing each other with old stories that we had all but forgotten about, the wives started giving us "that look". While we were drinking beer and reminiscing our wives had been chasing after the kids. It was starting to get late, the kids were getting tired and grumpy, and it was time to head back to the hotel.
Luckily, Lindsey and Don's wife had not enjoyed nearly as many cold beers as we had, so they were able to safely navigate our families to the hotel. (Side note, if staying in Ankeny, avoid the Super 8, it may have been the worst hotel I have ever seen!) As the wives unloaded the kids and shuffled toward our rooms, Don and I gave each other the "wink" and he told me to meet him in the parking lot for one last beer. Let's just say, that didn't go over too well with my wife. Not sure why, but my wife (8 months pregnant at the time) didn't see the humor in me staying up to drink even more with my buddy while she tucked in our 3 little children.
Don and I fought through the odds and met at the back of his trailblazer for "one" last night cap. That was at 11 pm. During the next 3 hours, and many "last" beers, Don and I really got deep. He shared his story of becoming motivated to get moving and get into shape. He explained in detail about his new eating habits, exercise routine, and his plans to run in a marathon someday. I shared how Lindsey and I had just completed Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at our Church. I told him about how we had paid of over $10,000 in debt in only 13 weeks. We discussed at length our plans to become debt free and live life on our terms someday. It was about 2:30 in the morning when our cooler ran out. We knew it was time to face the music and sneak back to our rooms with our tail between our legs hoping to not wake the wives up. No luck. In fact, I'm pretty sure I not only woke up my pregnant wife, but our little one year old as well.
After 4 hours of tossing & turning on the most uncomfortable bed in the world, the alarm went off and it was time to get the kids ready to go to the zoo. Ouch. My head was really throbbing. I knew I had to hold it together. Lindsey was upset enough for coming in late and waking up the baby. If I let on how hung-over I was, I would really get an ear full! So I tried my best to help out, but I soon found myself lying on the bed with my arm over my forehead. Lindsey got out of the shower, came out, glared at me, got the kids dressed, glared at me, packed up the bags and the pack-and-play, glared at me, took the bags out to the car, checked out, and came back to glare at me. But this time, she had to open the door to the bathroom. If looks could kill, it would have been over for me! There I was on my knees in front of the toilet, looking up at my pregnant wife and 3 little kids who were wide eyed and excited to get to the zoo.
I manned up and helped get the kids to the car. I could tell from the look on Don's wife's face that he was in a similar predicament. I held it together, avoided any more illness, and got my family to the zoo. It was a quiet drive.
We made it to the zoo. Our kids had a wonderful time. My wife was still upset, but luckily I was able to help out and got feeling a little better as the day went on. I think I drank a gallon of water that day! Here is a picture of me with my boys at the zoo.
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| June 2009 - Des Moines Zoo |
God works in mysterious ways. I am not trying to say that my old college buddy and I drinking all night was God's will, but just listen to what has happened since that night...
Don went on to run in his first marathon as he told me he would. He began studying the Dave Ramsey principles of being Gazelle Intense about getting out of debt. He and his wife were able to pay off enough debt and put a budget together that now allows her to work part-time from home! No longer is daycare raising their children!
And as for Lindsey and I? Well, I began my journey to a healthy lifestyle! I followed in Don's footsteps and began running! Lindsey was so inspired by my running that she began running with me. We are both now in the best shape of our lives! I am 100 pounds lighter, and have become a better role model for my kids, a better husband to my wife, and we are now helping others achieve their fitness goals!
Many lives have been changed because of that drunken night with my college buddy. I thank God for putting Don and I together that night. I think Lindsey has even come around and now understands the importance of that night and what it has done for our family! In fact, I might just have to give Don a call... we should probably get together and do some more "brainstorming"!
Michael
www.teamliveitout.com
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