Paraolympics....Here she comes!!! June 21, 2012

Planting the seed, this is what the Padre was talking about last Sunday. Ironically it was just earlier that day that I got word a certain little girl had made the Paraolympic swimming team. Earlier that week I had taken my mountain bike out on the roads for a little ride. Where was I going?? Who knows, I just wanted to pedal a while, listen to music and remember what it was like to feel the hot wind in my face. A short time later I was under the cover of the pecan orchard and in La Mesa. A left turn and a few miles of dirt road lead me to another seed I had planted many years ago. The seed I am referring to is the one that followed me all over Las Cruces on my long runs (on a mountain bike), went with me to Hawaii in 2001 for the Ironman (helped Peter Reid limp back to his condo...DNF) then followed me on the run via a rented mountain bike, and lived with my family for months at a time. Yeah I finally had enough courage to make it out to Jr's grave site. I stood there for a while and tried my best to remember all the time we shared together, the memories made, and just hoped that for at least a little while he knew people believed in him...I'm sure he did. I kissed his tombstone and rode back home, the long way. I took every ditch bank I could find and a feeling of peace came over me, but it's not very many days that go by when I don't miss an old friend...I mean it really made my day when I would be doing my do around LC and someone would honk or yell and it would be him...good warm feelings! Now back to last Sunday at church...yes mo fo's I go to church most Sundays, let's put it this way I go enough to know that on Saturday evening service at Newman center we can be in and out in less than 45 minutes;) So on our way, I get this text that says SHE MADE THE TEAM! I thought for a minute and then knew it was Leticia, I sat in the parking lot and texted her mom for a little while then went inside just beaming. The sermon was about planting a seed, doing the hard work, all the necessities which will yield the desired outcome, and staying dedicated to the cause. Wow, I thought, how does he do that? How does it fit so well? Dang, here's a 20 for the collection just because... Here is the deal, I figured just about 14 years ago I tried to plant this seed to help a kid by showing him there should be a better way to live and to expect more out of his life (many of my buddies helped out) but in the end I guess we are held subject to the outcome by forces of nature. It takes me a long while to get over hardships, but I like to take my time and replace them with something much better (feeling..not person wise). Yeah, you guessed it, a few days later I was reminded of another young person who took my challenge that there might just be more out there then being the class president, horseback riding, and being loved by everyone she had ever met... It's called track and field, it's called long jump, it's called swimming (competitively), and ultimately it's called a triathlon. Just like many kids before and since, she thought I was crazy, took me up on it anyway, and saw the journey through...Thank God!! My life would not be the same if she hadn't..pretty sure hers either. I look back now and laugh about how we "ghettoed" the long jump, how she would purposely leave her shoes tied loosely so they would conveniently come untied during a run, and how every time I looked back at her feet on the tandem..they were always coasting. Our ghetto long jump method to keep her on the straight path to the jump zone was to have a kid standing in the long jump pit yelling straight straight straight...the lady from the vis. imp. school came out and just shook her head, I guess there was actually a noise machine for that?? My hats off to Leticia for doing all she did, all she does, and never letting a disability (blindness) be a hindrance to her fulfillment. My hats off to those coaches who have worked with her since then, I am sure she has come a long way in the water to be ranked in the world the way she is now! Funny thing is that one of my first swims back from my own little setback I ran into my little buddy..what did I do? Hopped right in the same lane and swam with her of course. She had gotten faster, but I still needed to show her who the coach was..partly because I wanted to put her mind at ease and partly because I wanted to test it out for myself. I remember she asked me how I was doing and she was worried I wouldn't be the same. That's all it took for the payment to come back around to me.. a little girl telling me, in essence, go ahead Montoya test it out, I'm in your corner...once again...What A Journey my friends, and it's not over yet! On the home front, I am starting to hear that little voice talking again and you know whats it's saying...No, not you should jump back in head first and go 100% at the next triathlon, but rather...You know Mike, racing again at a pretty fast pace may just be in the cards?? Interesting thing about it is that racing on LOVE and racing on RAGE are opposite of the spectrum...Let's see which will yield the better outcome :) The journey not only continues, it continuously gets better, and now it has even made its way to LONDON!!

                                                           Always in my Heart Brother 
  

                                                   My little seedling and total inspiration

                                                                    It Is What It Is