A very meaningful letter to my husband and myself personally …

Dear Tom and Barbra,

Eight years ago I was a sophomore at the University of Findlay. I read the article “Ever Optimistic” in The Journal and it really impacted me. I was impressed by your son’s optimism, never-give-up attitude, and especially his strong faith and yours. I’d rarely seen someone his age live out his faith, and it really made me think how he truly lived every single day and how I might live my life differently. So I kept the article. A year later I became a Christian (nothing compares to God’s grace in our lives!) … Five years later I was graduating from vet school and married an amazing Christian man; also a veterinarian …

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Ed Forner wrote it in response to the Blog article, “Move From Comfortable to Uncomfortable and Back to Comfortable”.

Dear Barbra,

Years ago a friend of mine and I made a decision that we would become high level skiers and high level instructors. He was already 51 and I was 54.

Since then we have obtained our mission by becoming level 3 ski teachers. There are only 4 levels of ski teachers. (He is a better skier than I, because he is nuts.)

When we started out on this journey, my friend (who was a pro hockey player at one time) always wanted to go in the steepest, bumpiest, ugliest terrain that we could find. His comments were, “You cannot learn it if you are not in it.”

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Have you ever gone to the grocery store on a mission? You “have to” get x number of items for a special dinner in x amount of time. You have allotted the appropriate time, but no more. You walk into the store focused and in total hunting mode.

Then, around the corner you bump into a favorite friend. You visit for a bit. That shaved off a good five minutes of your tight window of time. As you resume shopping, your calm, yet energized, original demeanor has changed to frenzy. Now you feel scattered and hurried. What time are those guests coming? Oh, my!

Next week ….. same store, but no urgent mission is engaged. This time it’s just the same ole milk, eggs, and peanut butter routine. You are casual in your approach. If you see someone, you stop and talk. It has no effect on anything.

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Have you ever felt something so strongly in your mind and in your soul that you KNOW it to be true? This “knowing” goes beyond “believing”.

Of course you have. We all have those knowings.

I have one of those in cutting. It is about what I know to be THE most fundamental skill in this sport. Without this connection everything else you do is off to the extent that it is out of whack.

I am talking about your core. In physical terms it would be the lower part of your upper body (your hips, lower back, and abdomen). It includes the physical but is not limited to it. You learn to find your core by focusing on the physical. But, ultimately it is a FEELING.

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