Hi mom!

In honor of Mother's Day, I'll tell you a little about my own mom. She's awesome. I know we're supposed say that kind of stuff about our moms, but in my case it is absolutely true. She is a godly, compassionate and wise lady who sets an incredible example for everyone else. I'm really, really proud of her and being her son is an honor and a privilege. Like I said, she's awesome.

With that in mind, what I'm about to say will be a bit embarrassing. We (the rest of the family, including my dad and siblings) love to play little pranks on her. Because today is her day, I won't go into detail on the kind of stuff we've pulled, but she falls for our shenanigans often enough that we're encouraged to keep trying. After we do get her real good, she usually says "all I did was trust people that I love." She's insightful like that.

One of my favorite "momisms" is from when she was trying to solve a problem. She would say, "I may not know what the answer is, but I do know some of the things that the answer isn't." That's been particularly relevant to my experience with getting in shape. When I started, I didn't know how to do much, but Rick, Tina and the others started us off with a lot "don't" guidelines. If that sounds like a negative, I assure you it isn't. As one who has spent the past 25 years mucking up my own health I needed to plainly hear what some of the answers weren't. If I wanted to get in shape, Big Macs aren't going to help, exercise would, drink lots of water, etc. As I've sat in nutrition classes, I've often heard my mom's voice in my head echoing what I was learning. I told you she's an awesome mom ... her words continue to encourage and strengthen me ... and she lives a thousand miles away.

I love you, mom!