Not Much To Report: Wednesday Night Stationery Bike

It's Wednesday evening and I'm back in the metropolis of Spring.

Waverly and I went to Bally's tonight and I know I got to an hour on the stationery bike - and I think she got in 58 minutes on the recumbent bike. (She started on the elliptical machine, but was soon on the bike.) I went at it pretty hard (level 7, random) and tried to push the rpm to 100 the last 10 minutes.

She flies to Pennsylvania with my parents and my two nieces as they go to see my grandparents. It has become an annual summer trip for them. With my grandparents being 85 and 83, unfortunately, you never know when it might be a last trip for the girls to be able to see them. It is something that my Dad also looks forward too.

I really worry more about my parents, who are 61 and 59, then I do my grandparents. They've lived a full and complete life. They have three children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. I wish I could have provided them more of the latter; however, two have to play that game to make that happen.

Both of my parents are very overweight. My Mom's mother died when she was in the tenth grade as basically a vegetable. Jessie was her name. She was much more overweight than what my Mom is. I'm really concerned about this trip for my Mom because of her youngest sister.

My Mom is one of 10 brothers and sisters. Mom is No. 9 and Joy is No. 10. When I was in Minnesota, I could tell that my Mom was a little distraught. I soon learned the reason why.

She had just learned that Joy has leukemia, but what really hurt her was the fact that my aunt has known since January but hadn't let her know. (There have been periods that Joy has gone without contacting my Mom even though my Mom has given her phone cards, etc. to call her. There are two of my Mom's brothers -- Bobby and Junior -- that they don't know where they are at or whether or not they're even alive.)

Then she hadn't heard from me, knowing that I was in Rochester, Minnesota to run a marathon, after news that tornados were in the Minneapolis area and had killed people. When I landed in Houston, she got me after I turned my phone back on when we were taxiing in to the gate and I could hear the emotion in her voice.

Two Sundays ago in church, my Mom was taking it all pretty hard.

My Dad, in the meantime, has been struggling getting work for the consulting firm that he and two others have. He's facing a little age discrimination in his job-seeking, but he's also getting people that hold his lack of a degree against him. He's one of the best in his field. He's probably clinically depressed, and what do you say to somebody who flags their faith flag but doesn't believe it enough to truly place it all in God's hands.

I don't have the answers. I wish I had them, and that I could provide them to everyone I come in contact with. However, that isn't my burden in life to carry.

Life alone many days is a struggle for me. They say that those with big hearts get hurt pretty big too. I think that fits me to a "T". :)

Yet there are many things that I have to live for and the first one of those people is my daughter, Waverly. I'm really looking forward to vacation on Saturday, June 21. I know that the summer trips with Waverly will draw to a close one day so everyone of them I'll cherish.

Although I don't know if I'm going to cherish leaving here at 4 a.m. to take them to the airport!

Saturday is going to be exciting, though, as Bill and I make our Montgomery County Endurance Athlete of the Year Awards announcement. (And this is in the midst of the The Woodlands Running Club vs. Seven Hills Running Club competition. I think TWRC has this one in the bag this time.)

For the awards, we've had a huge banner made that I'm picking up tomorrow. I'm sure somebody there will have a camera! At a minimum, Bill! And if not, Debbie Tripp!

On a closing note, please keep Holden Choi and his family in your prayers. Here's an e-mail that I sent out to our TIR team -- and former HRBers -- on Monday:

"While driving to and from Temple this weekend, I happened to think about Holden and his Dad, who is battling a terminal illness. (When Holden originally told me late in the fall and asked me not to say anything, I then remembered specifically what it was.)

"Holden originally told me Monday morning that they had moved his father to a hospice over the past weekend, and that he only had about two weeks to live. He said that he was planning on going up this weekend and that his family would be keeping travel luggage ready for a quick departure.

"Later Monday evening, Holden's brother had called to tell him that the doctors thought that he might only have three days left. He e-mailed me, told me that he was going up on Tuesday morning and asked for me to e-mail our TIR team and fellow HRBers.

"He mentioned, "It is pretty sad watching my mom go through this ordeal. They've been married since December of 1962 and have been very close to each other through out the years."

Please keep Holden and his family in your thoughts and prayers this week.

As I receive updates from Holden, I'll be sure to pass them along.

I spoke with Holden Tuesday morning on the phone as I had called him and told him that if any of us needed to do something for he and his family that we'd do our best to help. He told me that his Dad had defeated prostrate cancer about six years ago. Every six months, he had cancer check and in September of last year they found a growth in his liver.

They did a biopsy and found that it was a cancerous growth. It had spread to his lungs and he was classified with stage 4 cancer and given 6-to-9 months to live. He said in the spring that the oncologist gave him three months.