Tuesday....June 9th....2009

Tonight was the Lance Armstrong Foundation sponsored "Defeat Cancer" dinner in Bend at St. Charles Hospital...always an incredible experience and we ALMOST missed it....our focus has been working through all of the properties we own and how to get something going in the crappy market (Asset rich....cash poor....don't mess with the IRA's more than we have to).

Anyway Linda remembered the dinner and we got an "OK" to attend and off we went.

Once again, it was a most rewarding evening....our hats are off to the ladies putting this together.....there is so much "gold' in terms of dietary recommendations, field trip planning, hiking trips organized, testimonials by cancer survivors , and tonight a guest speaker on fitness (Motion is Lotion).

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and Linda came home energized....even after missing a "nap" today.

One of our favorite "comments" by one of the coordinators (Rosemary) was about overcoming very difficult situations , ie. cancer ....as the impact "knocks you alive". She also talked about "physiology following behavior" or as we learned in Wings, "what you focus on is what you get".....absolutely true for any situation.

The guest speaker (presenter) talked about how the body can be prepared for cancer (and we believe prevent it). She said that "breathing is the foundation of every movement" and that breathing "matches the outside (of the body) to the inside pressure".......I sure learned that when my blood pressure was "out the roof"......breathing was the first step in getting the pressure down.....

We practiced many different "motions" and learned that the body is designed to move in many different ways.....and about the connection to the spine and to our "center". This, we understand is the basics of Pilate's.

Anyway, we came away educated and energized. Tomorrow will be another full day in the office working through the "dollar figures" and all. Linda's surgery has healed nicely....another scar ....but a worthwhile one....Dave's mouth looks like he got in a fight and lost.....another three days and things should look and feel more normal.

During the "testimonial" by a "cancer survivor", "empowerment" was a key word used and somewhere in the discussion a song by Rascal Flatts called "Stand" was mentioned as empowering.....it goes like this:

You feel like a candle in a hurricane
Just like a picture with a broken frame
Alone and helpless
Like you've lost your fight
But you'll be alright, you'll be alright
[Chorus:]
Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand, Then you stand
Life's like a novel
With the end ripped out
The edge of a canyon
With only one way down
Take what you're given before its gone
Start holding on, keep holding on

[Repeat Chorus]

Everytime you get up
And get back in the race
One more small piece of you
Starts to fall into place
Oh

[Repeat Chorus]