Vivian Stringer

Once in a while you get the opportunity to listen to someone talk and you walk away a different person. As I sat there tonight listening to Vivian Stringer talk all I could think of is "I hope someone is taping this because this could go down as one of the best speeches EVER."

Joelle Cain, someone I have had the honor to get to know as a photography client and as a fellow parent on CJ's baseball team, is very involved in Camp Good Days and Special Times. For those who don't know what this amazing organization does, read about them on the web site link above. They are amazing. Anyway, Joelle called me early this week and offered tickets to Christy and I to this charity event they were having with Vivian Stringer and Jeff Green.

Vivian is also a breast cancer survivor and Joelle wanted to make sure Christy got into her private meet and great with her before the dinner. Anyway, she went and had a book signed and I was able to sneak into the VIP cocktail hour and be in the picture as well! So exciting! I always respected Coach Stringer as a basketball coach, but never did I imagine what she would say would make you seriously reflect on your own life.



I wish I had a pencil or a tape recorder to write down all of the amazing things she said...everything from "it doesn't matter where you come from it is where you want to go." to surviving failure, to dealing with hard times in life, to what matters most, to life not being about your "title" but who you are inside. She didn't just SAY the words, it was evident that she LIVED them. At one point in the talk when she spoke about losing her husband she broke down and just cried. Standing on a stage in front of 100's of people she never met. She is the coach of a top basketball team in the country. You expect Pat Summit..what you got was a person just like you and I.

I lost is when she told the story about how she struggled to do it all. She was a single mother of 3 kids (one had serious health issues). At one point at the verge of breakdown someone came up to her to talk to her....what she told her changed her. She told her that she can't ALWAYS be the best mother or the best coach. You just can't. It is when we are not at our best that we grow. I am not always the best mother (especially during the summer!), and after listening to her...I know that it IS okay. :)

She said it best I think..""We all face different challenges in life, it is how we deal with them that really matters." When she said this I looked at Christy and smiled. She used almost these EXACT words at the beginning of her battle with breast cancer.

I can't wait to read her book now...I can't wait to watch her team play (Hint to Chris!).

Anyway....thank you Joelle for the tickets. WOW. Just wow. What a gift you gave us. I am so pumped up right now from all she had to say. When I sit and look at my life I see some parallels, but tonight Vivian tought all of us a lesson. You can over come.

At the end someone asked her what her biggest lesson was...and that was..."don't ever give up." I thought those words were ironic because I found myself sitting there thinking that her talk may go down as one of the best speeches regarding sports and life of all time. It was so Jimmy V to me. "Don't give up, don't ever give up."