Blessings all around

First, I’d like to talk about how taking care of three little boys is more work than two. Not a shocking revelation, I realize, but one worth discussing. Let’s also explore the notion that work done yesteryear might only now begin to pay dividends.  Lastly, in this passage we’ll chat about one of my favorite subjects, my wife.

Our little one, 7-month old Hawk Gordon—which only now as I type his name does it elude to the hitherto unknown son of Flash—is simply (in a three way tie for) the best baby in the world! You know, the smile, the laughs, the gorgeous blue eyes, the perfect nose, the fuzzy shapely bald head and, to top it off, the virtual omission of crying! Regardless of the ease of care Hawk’s manual truthfully claims, there remains the need to actually care for him: gotta feed him, gotta change him, gotta hold him (love it), gotta take him for walks, etc. Jack and Luke are still in the mix and becoming more and more active with skating lessons and basketball (on different days) and in four weeks, soccer starts (on different days). Additionally, being 4- and 3-yr olds, respectively, they are in a never-ending wrestling match that requires constant refereeing but also provides great entertainment.

There was a time when I could count on Jack and Luke to nap together for a couple hours while I did whatever I felt compelled to do. Now Jack skips naps most days and Hawk is rarely on the same schedule as Luke. I have yet to figure out how to, or find the equipment that allows me to, run or bike with all three of them at the same time. And when even one of them gets sick, the sanity-saving free “child watch” at the nearby Y, along the accompanying workouts, go bye-bye.

Nevertheless, with the ever-cyclical drive to train back on the upside, I am managing to squeeze in a few more workouts. Together with the break in the weather and Hawk being big enough, I’m getting in a power-specific bike ride or two each week pulling the two younger ones around for a couple hours when Jack spends two mornings in pre-school. On the days that Sharon goes in a bit later or gets home a bit earlier, I’m finding time to run. And that YMCA child-watch truly has been fabulous, allowing me more workouts and, more importantly, time to play a good amount of drop-in lunchtime hockey. (I also recently joined a night time men’s league: family sleeps, I skate.) I’d probably be getting even more sweaty if we weren’t getting to the mountains as much as we can to ski. Jack and Luke absolutely love it and this couldn’t make me happier!

A return to triathlon training has become necessary for one big reason: The International Paralympic Committee has awarded Paratriathlon a spot in the 2016 Games! While I don’t see myself competing in Rio de Janeiro at 49 years of age, I’d very much like take part in the expected exhibition event in London 2012. To that end, I’m back on the national gimpy tri team and will race at a couple of events in team colors this summer.

These demands have trumped the time available to pursue the speaking business. A few months ago I had written about our decision to keep me at home—shunning daycare and the short-lived au pair experiment—to focus on the boys’ upbringing without distraction and stresses of always trying to work the speaking business, i.e., the need to make all the phone calls, write the articles, and constantly think about the viability of the whole enterprise, not to mention the travel…while still taking care of the kids. Then Paralympic triathlon was added.

Which leads me to the welcomed notion that seeds of past sowings are beginning to bear fruit. While I’ve spent very little time recently caressing potential clients, I’m getting more work because clients are starting to call me! Those countless hours spent on the phone trying to establish myself in the thoughts of many, and the time I’ve spent on stage sharpening my delivery, have finally begun to pay dividends. Last week I booked three well-paying gigs in two days!  (The big-time professional speakers might think of this as routine, but I still get giddy from it.)

Moreover, recent gigs are somehow divinely interwoven into my travel. Let’s look, shall we: After a nearly a three-month dry spell, in late January I spoke to the folks at Accenture’s Denver office, a mere 30 minutes from home; a few days later I addressed the Self Storage Association’s Ski Meeting in Steamboat Springs, CO, a few hours’ drive, where they put the entire fam up at the ski-in, ski-out Sheraton—Sharon, the boys and I skied two full days and I spoke the evening in the middle—perfect; ten days before the event, The Hartford needed two “experienced” Paralympic speakers to represent at their 1300-person annual sales meeting, which happened to be the day before the family was to head to Disney World, thereby financing the entire Mouse House experience—awesome; I’m now sitting at a Panera near Boston, in between morning and afternoon high school presentations…covering the cost (and then some) of the family’s expenses for a Boston wedding (rehearsal dinner tomorrow night at Fenway complete with a personal tour of the park!), doubling also as Hawk’s introduction to my mother, sister, grandmother, aunts, friends, etc—excellent!

With all these blessings as of late, I’ve been feeling the need to give back in some way. To that end, I’ll shave my head.  The shaving will take place on March 17, St Patrick’s Day, in honor of Klaus Heiman. Klaus is a young cancer patient—joyfully, on the winning side of the battle—and I’m on his team to raise money for the St Balderick’s foundation. My goal is to raise $2500 via baldness—not all that much of a sacrifice on my part, I suppose… Anyway, please visit my fund-raising website to help kids who need our help.

Finally, great things are happening with my wife…but I’m sworn to secrecy!

So, Paratriathlon in 2012, great work starting to come my way, lunchtime hockey, a happy wife and kids who love to ski—and we’ve hired a house-cleaner!!!

All this reinforces my commitment to my long-time motto:

Good things will happen!