There is something to be said for having great friends

I am the type of person that doesn't have a million friends...I prefer to have a few that are tried and true.  This post is dedicated to Mal, co-founder of our blog, because she just rocks more than she gives herself credit for.  If anyone besides us looks at this blog....LOOK AT HER PROGRESS PICTURES SHE JUST ADDED!! She hasn't written a post about how amazing her progress is yet, and I gave her plenty of time to do it, but she is also one of the most humble people I have ever met.  So I made an executive decision...and she can write the follow up :) Let's be real here...after you view the pics...she looks amazing and has worked so damn hard.  

The inspiration for this blog entry just happened when I walked in the door tonight.  However, I better start with my day yesterday.  Yesterday morning during my presentation for class that I was absolutely nervous for we got news that a beloved coach from a school that is 25 miles from my home was shot to death in the weight room of his school.  Being a teacher myself it just tore me up, especially because there were 50 elementary kids in there when it happened, it was just a moment that can ruin a kids childhood.  Plus, this man was an icon and just a man among men.  He was an example of everything that is good in this world, he developed boys into the men that they would become.  I know he was just one man, but in the realm of small town Iowa football, he didn't just set the "bar"....he was the "bar".  and the teacher in me felt fear, knowing that that can happen in any school, under a million different circumstances, and we will never know the reason why, most of the time. 

Then I got a call that one of the kids I work with got in BIG trouble and was escorted home by a sheriff, and I was at a complete loss as to what to even say to him.  The trouble he got himself into may be out of my hands to help him fix.  His future is held in the balance of grace and justice.  Then twenty minutes later I received a call that his dad got into trouble and was in jail. It makes me so angry because every once in a while, despite all earthly reason, there is a good kid out there that doesn't deserve the hand that he has been dealt, this is that kid.  

So today I get home from going to see him with no answers to any of his questions and feeling really bad and there sits a package on the table from Mal.  Curiosity got the best of me and I opened it, to read the card that made me cry. (I don't even think that she knew that the colors on that card were my wedding colors) Then I got to see my goodies in there, they are so fun.  She constantly reminds me that I need to take care of me...which is usually the last priority on the list.  So I poured a hot bath, washed my hair with my new sexy soap, and put on my new lotion.  Thanks Mal...for all the things you do that you think go unnoticed like texting me before i'm about to make a horrible eating choice, for motivating me when I struggle to motivate myself, being my most honest critic, a cheerleader when i need it, for not getting pissed when i accidently text you after boxing (forgetting that its the ass crack of dawn where you are) and for being the best person to be on this journey with that I could ever ask for.