Threads

Threads…

Through the years I've had the opportunity to test the engineering worthiness and structural integrity of the my human machine.  Often requiring a minor fix and on several occasions serious repair became necessary.  My Dad used to say, "your gonna pay for that when you get older."  Of course I didn't listen after all he was old… what did he know.  Lol.  Well he was right and a while back I performed a high velocity ballistic gravity test on my mountain bike which exceeded the structural integrity of my right shoulder, eventually requiring surgery.  The surgery wasn't too bad... in and out one day for the chop, chop but the PT was a different story.  

The PT is where this "thread" story starts.  PT was great! Seriously, I didn't mind a bit…. heat, exercise (pain), elctro-stim and ice.  Done.  The best part was the people.  We all got to know one another, staff and patients alike.  We would work to gather to encourage each others progress and while happy to be done, it was also sad to say good-by. 

The best benefit of my PT was the friendship established with my trainer Christie and her husband Steve.  We all clicked and have been good friends ever since.  Christie and Steve have become family.  We share similar interests in many things, music, photography, and of course motorcycles.  

So, recently we celebrated Christie's birthday with their family, friends and lots of food, I mean LOTS of food and lots of laughs.  With-in five minutes of arriving on the sidecar a thread was discovered.  Mutual acquaintances and stories were shared for hours reminding me of the power of a social community.  After a while I met one of their neighbors, Dr John, the anesthesiologist and his first question to me was, "Have you ever seen the show, Long Way Round?"  Why yes, yes I have... I have also been fortunate enough to hang out with one of the producers, Mr David Alexanian another mutual acquaintance. Well,  Dr John and I start talking and tells me of his sons adventures on his bike, living the "long way round" and how we have adventured some of the same areas and can therefor relate to the experience.  We can also appreciate the stories of places we haven't traveled ourselves because we now understand how we see through the same lens of life.  Brilliant!

After a while Dr. John comes up to me and says, "speaking of threads connecting people…." and he begins to tell me a red thread story.  He was living in San Diego and taking some vacation days to spend time with family visiting from Indiana when he received a call from the hospital.  They [hospital] were short handed and asked if he could come in and support an unscheduled open heart procedure.  Understanding the urgency he apologized to the family and went to work.  Upon arrival he talked to his patient and finds out that she was also in the area visiting family.  He continues to query her and finds out that she is also visiting from Indiana.  Doc thinks, "well isn't that a coincidence…"  Well they continue to talk and unbelievably he finds out that his urgent surgery patient is in fact the next door neighbor to his inlaws that are at his home visiting.  Well the surgery goes fine and he heads home with a message for his in-laws to say "hello from their neighbor" but more importantly the message that the world is a small place, we are all connected and life is a precious gift.  

Thanks to my friends Christie and Steve for connecting the red thread and to Dr. John for sharing his thread with us.  Now go find a thread and see where it leads you.