He was 39 too…

Image via Wikipedia

Over the weekend, my wife and I wondered what Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth-date really was.  We get to celebrate it on a Monday, to get a three-day weekend, but I realized that I didn’t know the real date.  It’s January 15th for anyone that cares.  While I was looking this up, I found out that he was killed just a few months into his 39th year.

Just 39 years old.

That’s how old I am, however I’m a few more months into that 39th year.  He accomplished much during those mere 39 years.  Over the weekend I wondered if there was a moment or a specific experience in his life that caused him to pursue this movement that would eventually end his life way to early.

I found an article this morning that talks about and experience one summer that appears to have changed his life, and thank God, our lives as well!

Below is the link to the article.  Learn a little more about that motivated this man.

Young King inspired by time in Conn., work on farm – Yahoo! News.

…running through my mind…

Previous thoughts, lying in wait

As from my last post, you know that I have had another ACL surgery.  This one was back on December 30th.  This time around I received a donor tissue instead of taking tissue from another part of my body.  Please read this post, A Donation, and help me silently thank the family of the person that donated this tissue that is helping me regain a more mobile life.

Running was the focus of this blog; what motivates me to run and what I think about when I run.  However, I have not done a lot of running over the last 7 months, so this blog is taking on a different meaning to me.  It has helped me vent a bit and express myself to the point that I come back later and get to live up to what I typed on these pages.  This has proven a wonderful release yet more so, a surprising way to look at myself in the mirror – as unsightly as that glimpse is, when your previous thoughts “lie in wait” until you decide to re-read a post from the near past.

One of those posts was a draft that I never published.  It has waited for me to do something with it since November 15th.  I share it with you below, and I hope that I can live up to what I was thinking back then.

November 15th, 2010

Another Monday, another doctors appointment.

This time it was for what appears as a re-injury of my ACL.  An MRI is next, with a follow-up visit next week.  I didn’t know what to expect the first time around.  This time, I’m still not 100% sure, but I’ve at least got an idea.

If this turns into another surgery, I can definitely approach it in a different way.

This time around I’ll not concentrate on running, biking and participating in all kinds of sports as soon as possible; I’m going to live in the moment I’m in, not looking forward to something down the road that might never come.

This time around I believe I’ll not try to push harder than what everyone is telling me to do;  I’ll heal on my body’s time, not mine.

This Blog will go on!  I will come back to the theme of Running later, but until then, it will be about what is running through my mind during my recovery.  Thank you for reading.

…running through my mind…

A Donation

Anywhere from 18-60 years ago (I really don’t know) a certain person was born.  That person probably had people in his/her life that loved him, cared for him, made sure he was fed and properly taken care of during those first few years of life.  It’s my hope that this person went on to live a life that was fulfilling and was loved by those around him and that he loved back.

When he was born, he had an Anterior Tibialis Tendon.  It started developing well before he was born and continued to develop and grow well into this person’s teenage years.  He used this muscle every day, to walk, hike, bicycle and such.  It was something he needed just to live life.

Sometime over the last several months, he died.

On December 30th I had his Anterior Tibialis Tendon implanted in my left knee to act as an ACL.  I do not know this person or his family and I probably never will, however I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am that he and those around him agreed to give his tissue.  It’s not a heart or a liver or something that I can not live without.  (There are a lot of people out there living without their ACL’s)

But it is something that I’ll never forget.

I’ll never forget that someone gave a part of themselves so that I could run, bike, walk normally, hike, get in and out of a small cockpit and vehicles normally again.

I will never forget!

 

…running through my mind…