Terry Storch Dispatch w.31.2019

Dispatch w.31.2019

Long time no talk! I hope you have had a great summer so far—I have. For my new readers, you may not have known that I took off the month of July of all “outputs” like this dispatch, and I took off the first two weeks of work as well. I desperately needed some time off to rest, recharge, and fill my tank.

Recovery is not negotiable. You can either make time to rest and rejuvenate now or make time to be sick and injured later. Keep your bucket full. - James Clear

I have said this before, but for the first 35 to 40 years of my life I did not appreciate rest or feel the need for it. To be honest, I really thought it was for the weak. How wrong and misguided I had been for so many years. I can not stress enough the importance of rest, recharging, and simply taking time off work to enjoy the finer things in life.

Here are a few things to catch you up on since we last spoke.

Robin and I were alone for the first two weeks of July while Reese and Reia were at Camp Barnabas. The girls had a blast at camp, serving, working and assisting with special needs campers (Reia Week 1, Week 2, Reese Week 1), and Robin and I stepped deeper into the understanding of what an empty nest is going to feel like. We have four more years, but we have worked hard to not be crazy kid-centric and look forward to that season of life. 

I discovered I have more family! Yeah, have you seen those Ancestry.com commercials where new families are discovered? Um yeah, my dad could be on one of those. The really long story short is my dad was adopted when he was about four years old. For reasons we won't ever fully comprehend it was a bit of a secret and it was not discussed. And now it's led to a new family discovery. An AncestryDNA test created a chain reaction of communication that led my father (76yrs old) to discover that he has six half-brothers and sisters he never knew, four of which are still alive. CRAZY! So on my vacation Robin and I drove a few hours West of OKC to see my dad meet his 92-year-old step-mom and some of his newly discovered family.  

College campus visits continue with Reia. This last one was the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Robin and I love Fayetteville, but were not really familiar with the university. Back in the day when I was racing bikes, we traveled to Fayetteville for some races and fell in love with the city and community; it is amazing! Reia really liked the campus, and it is officially “on the list” of options. This coming Friday we have our last college visit to Eastern Oklahoma State, and then we'll go into deep evaluation mode, and deep into scholarship application mode. 

The end of an era is now official: I sold my racing bike during vacation. In reality, the era ended three years ago when I stopped racing, but I was not ready to commit to selling the bike and racing gear until I knew what was next. As I processed over the break while watching Wimbledon, I decided I was going to get back into tennis. Growing up, I was a highly competitive player, and I thought tennis was going to be a part of my career path, possibly coaching. However, all that came to an end with a serious and ongoing shoulder injury that I still nurse to this day. I am hopeful that with proper care and new slower pace I can keep the injuries at bay. I have played a few weeks now, and my arm and shoulder have gone from feeling like they were going to explode, to now just sore and semi-painful. So, progress. The other day I filmed some time with the ball machine so I can evaluate my poor timing and footwork. Video is unbiased feedback.

In related news, Reese is playing tennis with me, and it has been a blast. We have four years left with Reese at home—having something like tennis to enjoy with her would be awesome.

I am so thankful for the time away and the ability to disconnect and recharge. It's given me a greater appreciation for rest and a newfound excitement to be “back!”

Let me leave you with this short post from Seth Godin.

People Don’t Change

(Unless they want to)

Humans are unique in their ability to willingly change. We can change our attitude, our appearance, or our skillset.

But only when we want to.

The hard part, then, isn’t the changing it.

It’s the wanting it.