Full Column for the Washington Times Herald

I was a guest columnist for the Washington Times Herald - here is what I wrote:

I am officially now a Notre Dame University Alum. Over the last four years there were times I thought a title like that would never come. Other times, it was a title that I thought I didn’t want. Just as my four years at Notre Dame didn’t pass by without any hiccups in the plan, the three day graduation weekend didn’t either.

On Friday, the #2 ranked business school in the country, Mendoza College of Business, had a recognition ceremony for all of the students graduating in Business. I graduated with a degree in Business Management, in the Entrepreneurship area of study. The ceremony was held in the Joyce Center. For the first time, alphabetically, I wasn’t the last name to be announced, not because “Zeller” wasn’t the last name in alphabetical order but because the students from the marketing division were announced after the management students. It was a nice ceremony but didn’t start without the H1N1 virus (swine flu) announcement. We were told if we didn’t want to shake the hands of the leaders of the business school, we could cross our arms. I felt like I was back at one of hundreds of pre-game masses that I attended while at Notre Dame. Hand sanitizer was also available before and after going across the stage. Despite the announcement, everyone chose to accept their degree by shaking hands, and refused the offer of sanitizer and crossing of the arms.

In the beginning of our ceremony, our Dean, Carolyn Woo, delivered the commencement speech and then shook our hands while receiving our degree. We each had a card with the pronunciation of our names and any awards that we had received listed below. I didn’t win any awards, but if I had a marker I would have written “almost cum laude,” seeing that I missed cum laude honors by just .03%. When I shook the Dean’s hand there was a good rolling laugh because of the height difference between her (just over 5’) and me (6’ 11”). When I returned to my seat, a friend on the football team asked, “Did you feel like Godzilla when you shook her hand?” We received a golden canister that some thought had our diploma in it, but it was actually just a glorified baton with a sketch of the campus inside of it. I told mom I got bored during the ceremony and drew it myself. Afterwards, the Business school provided an informal reception where I celebrated with my parents and girlfriend, Hope. We also met with my teammates, Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland and their families to take pictures and relive the memories of the last four years.

When I woke up Saturday, I knew it was going to be a busy day. Eric Lane graciously drove all the way to Middlebury to pick up a 25 foot trailer and then to South Bend to load up all of my things from my house and drive it back to Washington. Eric was a lifesaver because without his help, the next option was volunteering Dad to drive Tom Boyd’s semi-truck from the 2005 State Championship. From what I’ve heard the last time Dad drove an 18-wheeler, he forgot to release the parking brake in his excitement. So, you’re welcome, Tom! That afternoon we had an open house to celebrate my graduation. As always, Mom had a wonderful display and presentation of my life and accomplishments at ND. The party lasted throughout the evening as we had a steady flow of people throughout the house. It worked out great and allowed us to spend some quality time with everyone that came. When I finally laid down for bed, I felt flooded with emotions about my last home appearance on the Joyce Center floor coming up the next day at graduation. I chose to quickly fall asleep so that I didn’t think too much about it.

By the way, at our open house that evening, we talked about security for the weekend. My roommate’s dad was in the FBI for over 20 years and he was telling me about all the retired FBI, Secret Service, DEA, and state policemen that were called in for the weekend for the President’s arrival. There were a lot of uniformed officers with probably many more in street clothes.

Sunday morning I woke up and packed up what was left of my things in the house I called “home” for the past year. I rented out a room in the upstairs of one of my best friends’ house. I got all moved out and had to collect my diploma (or my $240,000 placemat, as my roommate called it) at the Joyce Center around noon but the ceremony wasn’t set to start till 2:00. Because of the protestors and high security for the President, there were two checkpoints to get to the entrance of the Joyce Center. By this time, the protestors were already active near the entrance and some ND parents were seen arguing with them. While waiting to enter, my girlfriend, Hope witnessed parents accusing the protestors of ruining their children’s graduation. In response, the protestors accused the parents of supporting Obama and his pro-abortion policies. The arguments soon ended when the parents simply said they were trying to celebrate a great accomplishment with their kids. While the hour wait to get in through the Secret Service security checkpoint seemed tedious, in hindsight, it was worth it to see “Air Force One” fly over campus. Since the airport is not far from Notre Dame, it was flying low enough for us to see it. Once we finally got through security, diplomas were distributed and the class of 2009 assembled to process onto the Joyce Center floor. I stood by teammates Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland, as we are all business majors. Kyle McAlarney tried to switch tassel colors with someone in the business school so he could sit with us, but it was to no avail. (However, Kyle ended up sitting directly in front of Obama and definitely was excited about that). Ryan, Zach, and I (all over 6’7) stood out like sore thumbs in the middle of the sea of students but at 6’0 Kyle blended in much better.

The processional was filled with anxious anticipation as everyone knew that President Barack Obama would soon walk in. When he finally did everyone erupted with applause and a standing ovation. Applause occurred each time his name was even mentioned in the ceremony. The Valedictorian gave a very good speech about “to whom much is given, much is expected.” She spoke about how we had all been given much and we were expected to do much. She had a long list of accomplishments--so long I would venture to say that it is longer than mom’s “TO DO” list for dad on Saturday’s that he doesn’t work. It was impressive and I was proud to be a part of a class that had a valedictorian with such accomplishments.

Notre Dame’s President, Father John Jenkins then made comments and introduced President Obama. He talked about how, as a Christian institution, we should extend our invitation to people who are our leaders even if their beliefs are different from our own. I appreciated his comments, especially when he spoke of the church’s stance on supporting leaders and respecting people of authority. I was reminded of the wonderful people Jesus surrounded himself with and what some people said about them as he spoke. I was proud of Father Jenkins for remaining firm in his invitation to President Obama and ensuring that the attention was directed at the graduating class rather than him. I’m sure he had plenty of opportunities for statements and public appearances, but he refused. Thank you, Father Jenkins, for being a strong leader of a Christian institution.

When President Obama received his honorary degree, in silent protest, some students chose to remain seated without applauding. While I stood to watch, I chose not to clap. President Obama’s stance on abortion differs from the moral standing of Notre Dame and the Catholic Church. Personally, I did not agree with Obama receiving an honorary degree, either, and did not support Notre Dame’s decision to give it to President Obama. I believe the Catholic Church and Catholic University should uphold their catholic mission of not giving honorary degrees to those who do not line up with their moral stance. Arizona State invited President Obama and made a statement by not giving an honorary degree. This was the only issue that left me unsettled about the ceremony and the President’s presence.

When President Obama began his speech we were all reminded that he is a great orator. I greatly enjoyed hearing him speak, as he had me on the edge of my seat. However, his wasn’t without interruptions. During his speech, three different people stood up and yelled anti abortion slogans. The police quickly escorted each of them out. The first time was shocking but expected, but the second and third times were quite annoying. While I may have agreed with what they were yelling, rudely interrupting Notre Dame’s graduation in such a way is not a positive production towards pro-life legislation. Truly protesting would have been to not attend the ceremony at all or other more civil and respectable means of sharing their beliefs. I’m not sure what result the protestors were aiming for but regardless those types of interruptions were unnecessary and disrespectful. I was very proud to be a part of the Class of 2009 and even got chills when the second protestor started during the President’s speech, the students started the “We are N.D!” chant. Our class was not going to let the protestors ruin our day that we had worked so hard for. If I had a chance to sit down with Obama at a coffee shop, I would listen to his stance on abortion and then tell him I disagree, but then buy his cup of coffee. Afterwards, I would then extend the proposition that should solve all great political debates. I would challenge President Obama to a game of one-on-one to solve the issue once and for all.

After the graduation, my parents had to get back home, but Hope and I went to a celebration dinner at Hacienda, which is not near as good as Mi Pueblo, but it has had to suffice since Mi Pueblo doesn’t yet deliver to South Bend. After dinner, I drove to my “home” for the next couple of weeks – the Marten House Hotel in Indianapolis. I am working out with Coach Ed Schilling of Champions Academy every morning and Ralph Reiff and his trainers of St. Vincent’s Sports Performance Center training to pursue a professional career. As of yet, I don’t know where I will be. I work out about 5 hours a day and my agent takes care of where I will be.

Overall, I am proud to be a Notre Dame graduate from Washington, Indiana. I know that without living and growing up in Washington, I would not be where I am at today. Whether it be the support of people in the Hatchet House, struggling through memorizing the Gettysburg Address in Don Spillman’s Class (I heard a rumor that he is making his class next year memorize President Obama’s recent Notre Dame address – good luck with that!!!), or the guidance and support of my first bus driver and amazing woman that was Coach Omer’s wife Wilda. I appreciate everything that has been given to me and since the day I graduated from Washington High School, I have been trying to live by our valedictorian’s mantra – to whom much is given much is expected. I am trying to do the best I can to everyday make Washington proud.

Workouts

So I've been working out hard in Indy.  It's been really good.  Workouts have been tough.  My lunch yesterday was baked cod, lima beans, and baby spinach salad.  I thought that was questionable at best, but then I got dressing....I think it was dressing.  I smelled it and it was quite pungent.  It stung the nostrils.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be though.  It made the baby spinach salad taste better than eating plain leaves off a tree because that's what it looked like.  The planned meals are really good and have been helping, but sometimes things just don't taste that good.  After both of my workouts, I get snacks that total at least 700 calories.   There is a window of 30-60 minutes after the workout that your cells are more open to receiving recovery nutrition and it is a very important part of getting the most out of the workout.  700 Calories may sound like a lot, but I did a bodpod test and they figured out that I burn 2500 calories a day.  This is by doing absolutely nothing, just because of my metabolism being that high.   

All of my working out really hard and I'm still not sure what the future entails for me.  I am working out and trying to play well in front of the right people.  I have learned a lot from books in college, but probably the two most valuable lessons came from a combination of on and off the court.  I learned that there are many things in life you can't control - don't worry about it.  There are two things you can control - your attitude and how hard you work.  These are the two most important things, not only in basketball, but in the classroom and I find myself reminding myself of the same thing everyday in my relationship with Hope as well.  There are many situations and circumstances that aren't possible to control, but those two things can make your life better.  

Training

So I've been working out for the last two weeks in Indianapolis.  I am training with Champions Academy for basketball and St. Vincent's Sports Performance Center for everything else.  I have a dietician that has me on a strict eating schedule.  She has breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned out for me as well of my post workout snacks.  I did a bod pod test to find out my weight and my metabolism.  I found out that if I do absolutely nothing all day I burn 2500 Calories, so based on that and the calories I burn during my workouts as well as everyday living, my diet is at about 5500 calories a day.  I'll give you an idea of a typical day for me.  I wake up about 8:45 or 9 and go get breakfast.  Then I drive to Trader's Point Christian Church to work out with Coach Ed Schilling and Champions Academy (championsacademy.org).  We start out with 2 ball dribbling for a warm up.  To watch what this looks like check out Mike Conley's dribbling on youtube.  It is from Coach Schilling's warmup.  Then we do what is called the chill drill.  There are not words to describe the chill drill.  There is nothing chill about it.  It is tough.   From there it differs from day to day, but Coach Schilling is very good at what he does.  He used to work out guys for the New Jersey Nets and I heard that he worked out Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter when they were coming into the draft.  We do most of what the NBA teams do in the pre draft workouts.  Workouts usually last atleast 2 hours, sometimes more.  I get my post workout snack and then head back to the hotel for lunch.  After lunch I go to the room for about 10 minutes just to sit down and then I drive over to my workout at St. Vincent's.  St. Vincent's workouts go from about 2:30 - 4 and then we get our post workout nutrition.  I have to get 600 calories in after my workout.  There is a 30-60 minute glycogen window after workouts where your energy can be replenished and recovered more efficiently, so that's why we get the stuff after workouts.  A typical post-nutrition workout supply for me would include a myoplex drink (you're welcome Brady Quinn), string cheese, a myoplex bar (Now I'm done), and a Kashi TLC bar.  And then I go back to the hotel, take a shower, and relax for a bit before dinner at about 6 or so.  After dinner is when I go to Panera for a little free WiFi action.  Then I go back and have to eat 2nd dinner of atleast 700 calories.  Then I'm usually in bed by about 11 and I do it all over again.  It's been really good and workouts have been great.  

On another note I am going to Andrew Johnson's wedding this weekend and am very excited to be able to celebrate this with him, but I am mostly excited to see Hope because I haven't seen her since Sunday and it will be a lot of fun to show off our dance moves on Saturday - better watch out!!!

Dylan - A kid that I miss dearly

So I just finished writing a column for the Washington Times Herald about graduation.  I will post it on here when it comes out.  It's definitely way too long for the newspaper unless they're doing a couple page insert and I'm most definitley not that special.  I will post all of it on here though. 

I am currently sitting in a Panera just down the road from my hotel in Indianapolis.  They kick me out of here at 9 o clock each night, but I refuse to pay the 6 dollars a day to get wireless internet in the hotel.  I am excited to get back for the Lakers - Nuggets game tonight anyway.  No internet will keep me free from distractions.  

So here's a story about a young man that had a big impact on me.  In the fall, when we played Ohio State at Lucas Oil Stadium, as part of the schedule for that game, we went and visited Peyton Manning's Children Hospital.  I've always been a big Peyton fan, but even more now after seeing where his money has gone.  This place is impressive and cool for the kids.  We split up into two groups and visited many kids.  Some kids were preemie, others in for surgeries, but there was also an oncology section.  

It was in the oncology section of the hospital that I met Dylan.  In our tall group of basketball players come towering in.  Dylan had a tube in his throat and his talk sounded very mechanical because of it.  It added to his mystique in the same way a person's accent does the first time you meet them.  Dylan was a little shy on this day, but he warmed up when I asked him if he liked the movie Cars because I saw a sticker of the movie on his wall.  Tory asked him who his favorite character was and he wouldn't say.  When I did my best impersonation of Lightning McQueen and said "Kachow!" his face lit up and that was the moment Dylan held a special place in my heart.  Here is a kid with cancer at 6, but he's still a kid.  Lightning McQueen lights him up the same way it would any other kid.  We got to talking and the nurse asked him do you like basketball Dylan and he boldly said, "No."  We all laughed and instantly fell for him because Dylan was very mature for his age and he knew what he wanted.  He liked us because we were visiting him and cared enough to spedn some time with him.  It didn't matter that we played basketball.  Afterwards all the guys were talking about how much we all liked Dylan and we all wished we could do more for him.  I grabbed the nurse before we left and talked to her about Dylan and possibly a Christmas list or something because we would all like to help out.  She got excited and said that Dylan had a Christmas list all written out, but probably wouldn't be able to get everything on it.  I told her to email me the list and I would be driving by Indianapolis on my way home for Christmas so I would stop in.  

We got back to school and I have some great teammates.  All of the guys that were in with my Dylan pitched in something.  Kyle bought Transformers for him because that was what Kyle talked to him about.  Tim Andree went out and bought the semi from cars that turned into an entire racetrack so he could play with it in his bed.  Tyler was in town, so Tyler, Mom, Hope, and I went shopping for Dylan.  We found him some neat shirts and a huge Lightning McQueen pillow along with some Lightning McQueen crocs.  

We delivered them all to Dylan on our way home.  It was pretty early that chilly morning in December, and Dylan wasn't feeling good.  He had just had chemo and radiation treatments that morning and wasn't real excited about seeing us.  He pulled the sheet over his head and didn't want to talk to us.  We said that's fine we just wanted to bring him the gifts.  Molly, the nurse then took the Lightning McQueen shaped oversized pillow and slid it it under the covers.  That got him excited!!!  He had so much fun unwrapping the gifts and seeing what he had for Christmas.   He said thanks, but not much else beyond that.  Dylan may have been the one that got the gifts, but his smile gave me the best present that I received this past Christmas.  Afterwards I told Molly that sometimes I work out in Indy and might be here again this summer.  Last week I found out the hotel I am staying out is a 5 minute walk from Peyton Manning's Children's Hospital, so first thing I thought was Dylan!!!  I was excited to see my little partner again!  

On Thursday before heading to Notre Dame for graduation, I moved my workout to the morning so that I could have time in the afternoon to visit my man Dylan.  I went over and Molly was on vacation, so I stopped at the front desk and tried to find someone else to take me to him.  I asked the front desk and she asked well who are you here to see.  I told her I was there to see Dylan.  The look on her face worried me and what she said broke my heart.  She told me Dylan had passed away last Thursday (May 7).  I couldn't believe it.  The guy that had brought me so much joy and done so much for me was no longer here.  Cancer had taken his life.  It is a cruel disease that knows no boundaries not even for an innocent little kid that loved Cars and didn't like basketball at all.  I met with one of the other nurses that had grown close to Dylan and went to his funeral the day before.  She said that he was great the day that he had died.  He ate biscuits and gravy in the morning and she had brought him a happy meal for lunch because he loved the toy in it as any kid would.  She talked about how late at night there were a couple of radiologists that would make his life brighter.  They used to take him and race him in his wheelchair down the ramps outside of the hospital.  They took him to the helicopter pad on night and even did an easter egg hunt with him.  When they asked him about an easter egg hunt, he pulled the nurse in real close and said, "I can't walk."  She replied you don't need to walk to be a kid and find eggs.  You can hunt in your wheelchair.  They said he really liked that.  I just can't believe that he is really gone.  This is my tribute to you Dylan.  Thanks for touching my life and I will try to remember you as I move forward from here.  I will remember your smile, but mostly your joy while going through the situation you were in.  Thanks for being an inspiration to me.     

Beach Adventures

I am still working on getting the pictures of the two seven footers building sand castles. The pictures are on Hope's camera and she is holding them ransom evidently. Speaking of castles, Tyler and I built a wonderful sand castle...sort of. The castle had five levels to it with a sweet room on the top. By the time we got done, we decided it looked more like a prison and joked that not even Sean Connery (in The Rock) could escape our prison. Especially after the amazing moat that we dug out around it. Our girlfriends were sitting up a ways on the beach and so we decided to change the sandcastle. We customized it and made it so that it was a luxurious hotel with one single room on the top overlooking the ocean. We added huge doors on the front and some nice beautiful windows. We then made a road to the ladies so that they could easily get to the beautiful Ritz of a sandcastle we had just built for them. We made a road all the way to their towels and then took them on a tour to their place.

Later on Tyler and Abby went for a walk on the beach. (Yes tall men are more romantic). As Hope and I were now alone I did what any guy would do...I took pictures of the sandcastle as the waves began to overtake it. As I was taking pictures of this huge wave about the crash down on the south, west, and east wall of the sandcastle, Hope started tapping me on the shoulder saying Luke, Luke. I said, "Yeah, I see it. This is going to be the greatest picture in the history of pictures." She kept tapping me more urgently and making sounds louder and louder, but not really entirely words. I then turned to right to see something I have only seen in movies. Well one movie - Twister. There was a giant umbrella about the size of an umbrella that would sit on a back patio table flying through the air and it was about 10 feet from me. I turned to my side to protect Hope...and maybe dodge it. No luck. The pole of this umbrella jabbed me right in my right hip and then rolled on down the beach. Wow, what are the chances.

Speaking of being on the beach. I play an indoor sport and like this year I was on the beach about two days this summer and that will probably be about it. I am tan, but not dark. I burn easily. This year was not as bad as the vacation that Tyler, Cody and I took last summer. We went to Charleston, South Carolina and had to check out of our room that day. So we went out to the beach real early and just stayed - all day. We had a blast, whether it was Cody doing the Heisman to an oncoming wave or it was Tyler and I trying to see who could jump over a wave and stay standing. Mom sent some sunscreen with us. We decided we would help each other put the sunscreen on after we got out to the beach because we didn't want to waste any of our time. Mom is a wise woman. I say that honestly. Now for this instance it is sarcastic. Mom in all her great wisdom sent spray sunscreen because we are big guys and she figured we didn't want to rub that much sunscreen on each other. We have played basketball outside many times. You always have to play the wind. Well, we tried to play the wind with the sunscreen. Cody would shoot it up in the air and I would judge where to run under it and then we would switch. Since Cody decided for the first 5 hours that the sun couldn't touch him and he didn't need sunscreen he was the worst. We had spots on us from the places we had sprayed sunscreen. Cody looked like a diseased cow. It was hilarious, until Tyler and I ended up burnt and eventually blistered a day after him.

So this time on the beach, I had learned my lesson. Hope brought SPF 15 and 30 to the beach. She brought negative 15 I think for her frequent tanning bed self. I was putting tons of lotion on my legs and got comments like that would take of an entire normal person....for a week. I told her I needed good sunscreen. She told me to add 15 and add 30 together and that would make SPF 45, so I would be fine. It's amazing the things you learn when you graduate from college...sort of. It didn't work. She did my back and yep my back was burnt. It's alright though, no blisters and next time we will just buy SPF 45.

Mother's Day

So as it's late and I am very tired. This will be short, but don't let the longevity of the message be representative in your eyes to the gratitude of the amazing woman that is in my life - my mom. She is awesome and deserves much more than just this, so I will stop here and do justice to her amazingness blogging about her later.

Sorry about the week away from the Blog. My girlfriend Hope and I traveled to Chapel Hill and Wilmington, North Carolina to see and visit Tyler. The trip was amazing and I have tons of stories which I will be posting soon. Just a preview - these entail entertaining stories such as flying umbrellas, sunscreen math that doesn't work on very white men, meeting of many, many people - such as the man who played basketball for Pittsburgh in 1942, many people that thought I was Tyler and sometimes I let it slide because it was fun, and other stories. The stories will be coming soon. I am currently in Indianapolis getting ready to start working out with Coach Ed Schilling of Champions Academy in the morning and as the "chill" drill has nothing chill about it I am going to hit the hay. The stories will be coming to you soon and believe me they will not disappoint. While you are waiting here is a scenario you can play out in your mind that will keep you entertained. Two seven foot division 1 basketball players building a sandcastle on the beach. That's all I'm saying....if pictures work I will share those images with you and see how close they are to what you imagined. Thanks for following and once again sorry for the delay of a week.

Graduation

Today, my girlfriend Hope graduated from Bethel College.  I am incredibly proud of her and have to brag on her 3.94 gpa in 2 majors and 2 concentrations that I always get mixed up.  In that list is business, early childhood development, youth ministry, and psychology or something like that.  Anyway she's amazing and I'm very proud of her.  I went to the graduation ceremony, which is always something that people look very forward to....just kidding.  I went because I try to be a good guy like that.  The commencement speaker for the graduation was Chris Fuller in place of his father who passed away in February.  Chris is the son of Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity until as I understand it he was forced to leave the organization in a messy string of events.  It was an interesting talk about the story of Habitat for Humanity, then being forced out of the organization he founded.  Chris said his father was never bitter about it, but rather took the perspective that it was God's organization from the beginning and he was just watching over it for a while.  He founded the Fuller Center for Housing after and began to impact the world that way.  Chris said in Fuller's fourth year it is where Habitat was at after 10 years.  Impressive.  It was a good talk and a fun day of family pictures, and many kodak moments afterwards.  

I am looking forward to my graduation in two weeks and will be writing about that soon.  Yes, I will be addressing how I feel about Barack Obama speaking.  Tomorrow morning Hope and I are driving to visit my good friend Christian Moody in Asheville, North Carolina on our way to the see Tyler and his girlfriend before heading to the beach!!!!   I have been training about 4-5 hours a day preparing for NBA tryouts to try and pursue a professional career.  I am looking forward to moving my training from South Bend to Chapel Hill and then the beach for a couple of days.  It won't stop my training, it will just be a little bit different.  I will be running in the mornings like David Hasselhoff and then doing the deck of doom as my strength coach T-Ro calls it as often as I can.  There are always basketball courts to be found.  I can sniff out a basketball court like many women can sniff out shopping malls!!!!  That's why I almost always wear a pair of gym shorts underneath my pants.  Like prom - I had basketball shorts on underneath.  You never know when a basketball game could break out and I wanted to be ready.  

Finishing one chapter, beginning another

As I put the finishing touches on my last assignment of my educational career to this point, I realized that I have been in school for over 17 years now.  I have been doing assignments for teachers, professors, priests, and parents for basically my whole life.  As I finish this take home final for my religion and autobiography class I have decided to begin a new chapter.  This chapter I am the boss and I review the work.  I apologize now for my grammar.  I write the way I talk which is random and sometimes not well structured (sorry all old english teachers....and mom).  

This is the beginning of my new chapter of life.  As I finish college, and begin the journey that everyone has deemed the "real world" I hope that you will follow with me whether it be laughing at me or laughing with me.  Either way I want to thank you for your time as I know time is an incredibly valuable resource in this day and age. 

Today my time was used and it was a very busy day.  I helped my girlfriend, Hope, move out of her dorm as she graduates tomorrow from Bethel College here in South Bend.  I was glad that I could help out, but I am built much more for carrying large boxes.  I thrive on the sheer challenge of carrying nine shopping bags, 3 duffel bags, and one laundry basket all in one trip.   (Which I did successfully in case you were wondering).  I am a lot better at carrying bags upon bags like a packhorse than wrapping fragile, breakable bowls, plates, cups and vases in newspaper and then stacking them individually into a plastic box.   I really, really hope those don't break...although I'm not giving any promises.  Sorry Hope.   There was also a box that I might have broke a little bit when I tried to fit a comforter, 3 sheets, and two blankets into.  I found the only way I could get the lid on was to sit on the box and then quickly put the lid on.  It seemed a brilliant idea until I realized why it wasn't working.  The whole box was deformed from me sitting on it.  ooops.  So after I got her partially moved out I had to move onto the next two events for my day.

Both events were for great causes, but in much different ways.  One was in workout clothes and sunglasses, the other was in a tuxedo, tennis shoes and cuff links.  I helped work a basketball clinic at the college football Hall of Fame today.  It was an event for kids and it was sponsored by the center for the homeless and five star (fivestarlife.org).  Both are great causes and I was glad to be able to help out.  We had players from Bethel and Goshen college as well helping out.  I was helping out with the shooting station and was definitely inspired today by my new friend I met - Elizabeth.  

Elizabeth is a sweet little girl that was definitely younger and smaller than the rest of the kids that ranged from junior high to freshman in high school.  That didn't stop her or slow her down....something else did.  We were doing a shooting competition first team to make it to ten.  As we were playing a ball came across from another station and rocked her in the head.  It hit her square in the head and quite hard.  She was crying for a bit and as someone helped her with some ice to put on her head I went over to check on her.  She seemed to be doing well and I told her that I had had a concussion before and she looked better than me.  I would like to think that the little laugh from making fun of me was the thing that helped her, but I think it was the score called out by Robbie Lightfoot of 9-8.  Her team was down.  She put that bag of ice down stepped into line.  The girl in front of her hit her shot passed it back to her and she squinted a little from the sun put it up and in!!  She hit the game winner.  Michael Jordan may have won a bigtime playoff game with the flu, but on this day it was sweet little Elizabeth that hit the game winner there on a standalone goal outside of the College Football Hall of Fame that I think was just as special.  I was sold.  I was Elizabeth's fan.  I cheered hard for her against the kids twice her size and 3-4 years older and was impressed by her will to come back from a setback.

I have to say though, I was more impressed by the 15 year old girl that spoke tonight at the Coach's vs. Cancer BasketBall.  She is 15 and has had cancer in her leg and her left lung on two different occasions.  She had surgery on her leg.  They took out 3/4 of her femur and replaced it with a metal rod.  Then, they took her knee out and replaced it with a replacement knee.  She has beat it all three times.  It was amazing to me to hear her story.  I was humbled when her dad came to me and told me that he was impressed with me on the basketball court.  I told him I will never be able to do anything on the basketball court as impressive or courageous as your daughter has done with her life.  It was very impressive.  

Coach Brey does a great job with the Coaches vs. Cancer Event.  I would have to say this is where my dad would say behind ever great man there is a woman who is making it all happen.  Tish Brey is amazing with all she does, especially with Coaches vs. Cancer and I definitely think she wills the program together every year.   I always enjoy going to an event in a tux and tennis shoes anyway.  The battle with cancer is very close to me in my life and my prayers are with anyone battling or has lost someone to cancer.  

My high school coach's wife, Wilda, had breast cancer my sophomore year in high school.  She was also my first school bus driver and always told the story about how this rather tall, lanky first grader had to have his mom walk him to the end of the driveway to get on the bus.  It always sounded like the first bus scene from Forrest Gump when she told it.  Wilda's cancer went into remission and was gone until my senior year.  It came back and she battled courageously.  She would always be at our games supporting us.  There are two pictures of Wilda I will never forget and look at often.  The picture of her walking on the platform with Coach Omer receiving the state champion medal with Coach and her raising her arm in victory.  Also, the picture of our team at my senior banquet and for some reason she grabbed my hand right in the middle of the picture.  I went off the college and the next time I would hold her hand would be in the fall as she was close to the end with her battle with cancer.  I know that I held her hand, but a week later she moved on and I know that Jesus held her hand and took her home.  I love you and miss you Wilda.