“Once my daughter started college and was out of the house, it hit me; I don’t want to die while she’s in college. I don’t want her to have to deal with that while being in college. And, I want to watch her graduate. I want to see her get married and have kids someday. It was those thoughts for months that really got me thinking about my health. I started January 4th and haven’t stopped since. It’s changed everything. Working out to a program for 20 minutes a day has changed my life. A year ago, when my daughter had orientation at Madison, we walked up a massive hill, and I remember having to stop on the landing of every step because I was so tired. And now, 2 weeks ago, we walked 2.4 miles, which ended with a steep hill, and I was leading the charge. There’s no way I could have done that a year ago. My mantra in life is the song lyric by Martin Sexton, “one ounce of action, beats a ton of words.” I’ve always said your actions and your words need to match. I would encourage my daughter to go running, to be ready for soccer, and I would tell her she needed to go workout, but she didn’t see me doing it. So, why would she listen to my words and not my actions? As a parent, so often you carry guilt; me in particular. I don’t feel like I’m enough or I’ve done enough. I look back and I’m guilty because I didn’t show my daughter how to take care of herself through exercise and workouts. But now, I’m hopeful that she is seeing my actions.”