I feel like I'm running the last leg of a marathon. Funny thing is, I am not a runner. In fact, I hate running but with all of you cheering me on and encouraging me, I feel like there isn't anything I can't do. You all have prayed for me. You have sent cards. You have reached out to me, across the miles through Facebook and emails. Your comments have been a tremendous help in my healing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I won't lie - there were times when I felt like giving up. Thankfully, J has been wonderful as I wet his shirts with my tears. One thing that rang out in my second trip out of three stays in the hospital, was that there is a purpose in this. At that moment, I was more vulnerable than I had ever been. I had to learn to ask for help to the bathroom. I had to let go of others seeing my body, scars and all. I had to learn to answer questions like, "Are you passing gas? Have you had a bowel movement?" Questions that I learned to answer even with...

I can't fully imagine what Gabby Douglas' mom has gone through as she watches her baby girl doing what she loves - GYMNASTICS. I was a gymnast's mom. My daughter, Jarebear once was following close in Gabby's shoes. She was training at a US Gymnastics training facility with the full focus from her coaches, that the Olympics was her goal. Then, the unthinkable happened...a vault accident that injured two vertebrae in her spinal area. The blessing in that was had it been a inch closer to her spine, it would've had a horrible ending. Like Gabby's mom, I never imagined my Jarebear to get as far as she did. I enrolled her in gymnastics after seeing how shy yet limber she was at the age of 3. She possessed bravery the very first time she was placed on a high beam, at 4 years old, by waiting until the coach looked away to turn a cartwheel on the beam and literally stick it! Before class was over, the trainers were asking if we would consider her training at their fa...