Hi Brad,
It was great to meet you last week. I want to pass along my compliments on your presentation on Friday. It was inspirational and I’ve thought a lot about what you’ve said. To your “biggest fear” of hearing you and then doing nothing, I wanted to share something I did that made me a little uncomfortable but was worth it.
My oldest daughter is a high school freshman and decides join the Cross Country team. New to the sport, the school, the parent politics, and the coaches, makes me nervous. I agreed to be a Course Marshall at a home meet. I was stationed at a ditch turn where people might run off course. My job was to force them to jump over the ditch and head up the grass. The first race was Varsity Girls, and my daughter was in that group. I’ve always been vocal and have been accused of embarrassing her, but I know everyone needs encouragement. So I yelled at every kid that came by, regardless of team or place. The first lap was “you’re doing great,” the next lap was “you’ve got this,” and the final lap was “you’re almost there, push it, finish strong!” I repeated this for Varsity Boys, JV Girls, and JV Boys. My youngest daughter told me I was contagious!
My daughter on the way home from the meet said, “Hey Mom, all my friends think you are very cool.” After ensuring she wasn’t punking me, I asked, “Why is that?” She said, “Because you cheered them on, all of them, no one does that.” My heart soared to know that she was not only NOT horrified by me, but in her shy quiet way, proud of me for cheering them on. And apparently her XC friends felt the same way because as you said EVERYONE wants to be cheered on!! I’m not sure I would of risked it if I hadn’t heard your words the day before so I wanted you to know that at least in my case, I did something!
I am so glad you presented at IBC and I hope to run into you again in the future! Until then, take care and keep up the great work!
(Name Witheld)
Branch President/COO
The Eastern Colorado Bank
