-
 |
| Ryan's green "uniform" shirt - boy he took a lot of flack for that shirt. |
The way I feel about Ryan R. Teal can be summed up in 6 words – he added years to my life. I feel like
this entire blog is a tribute to what Ryan has done for me, so I want to
approach this post from a slightly different angle. (Check
out the following posts to see how Ryan has helped me – Thank you Ryan—April 11,
2016, Essay Written for 12 Week Challenge, Blood Tests Don’t Lie, and Alive at
55 and 55 pounds Lighter—It’s a Good Day)
Many of you who have followed the blog know that my husband
Dave and my son Joe have done NLP with me since the beginning (Aug/Sept
2015). They have built their own relationships
with Ryan and they too are going to miss seeing him every day. Ryan liked to call Joe – “Honest Joe.” Joe’s the only honest one. What number are we on, Joe? Did your mom do all her reps, Joe? We will probably continue to tease Joe about
this for a long time.
Dave – well we all know how much Dave loved the alley and
alley sprints. I learned the terms “hard
pass” and “tapping out” from watching Dave’s relationship with Ryan.
However, I haven’t talked much about our youngest son,
Ben. Ben is 14. He can pretty much eat anything he likes and
not gain a pound. So in his mind, why
does he need to work out? He was not
interested in the least with joining NLP with us. His love is the computer (that he
built).
As I got to know Ryan better, I asked him if he would be
willing to train Ben on a one-on-one basis.
As a trainer, he wanted to know what I was looking to get out of
it. To start, I just wanted to get Ben
away from his computer, get him a little bit of exercise, and provide him with
someone who could act as a big brother to him, someone Ben could feel free to
open up with and complain about his day or whatever. (I was that person for some of my nieces as
they grew up.) And thus it began.
 |
| Ben doing a box jump (actually posing for a picture after his box jump. |
At first Ben was NOT into it at all, but he did enjoy the
time with Ryan. It got to a point where
Ben would ask, “Is today training with Ryan?”
I would cautiously answer, “Yes, why?”
I was thinking he was going to say, “I don’t want to go” but it was
quite the opposite, he was happy to go.
Ben would come straight from school to the gym pretty much and so a lot
of times, he would talk Ryan’s ear off about school while they trained. I don’t know a lot of what they talked about
because I told them they could keep it private unless it was something I needed
to know. But I do know that Ben
complained to Ryan about having to wear a uniform to school and how he thought
that was lame, etc. Well, Ryan has to
wear a “uniform” to work and he told Ben sometimes he doesn’t always like that,
but he does it—thus relating what he’s learning in school to real life. (Look no further than the first photo on this post.)
There were many life lessons imparted to Ben in those
sessions. One time Ben had made a poor
decision and I had let Ryan know about it privately. It turns out Ben opened up to Ryan all about
it and again Ryan was able to help guide him if you will. So, Ryan.
It turns out just last week a group of kids at school invited Ben to
partake in some illegal activities during lunch on the field at the
school. Ben declined! Hallelujah!
Those kids were caught and expelled.
I believe you have helped us help him and I am thankful for that.
Ben is on Fall Break right now. Yesterday I drove him 30 minutes to the
Redlands to his friend’s house. Ben and
his friends rode their bikes all the way from that house in the Redlands to our
house. That’s insane. He would have never been able to do that if
he had not trained with you. He’s not
even complaining about being sore. He actually did this again today.
 |
| Ben's friends did not want their photo taken - so I was sent a photo of the bike! |
I personally do not know another trainer that could relate
to him so well and so our hope is Ben can continue with Ryan somehow – even if
it’s to meet at a park and train sometime.
Ben is building Ryan a desktop computer for payment. So it’s a win-win the way I see it.
 |
| Look what came in the mail today! |
 |
| Look who almost has it all together already. |
Ryan R. Teal you will be on our Christmas card list for
life! We can never thank you enough for
all that you have done for us.
In case some of you don’t navigate back to the posts I
mention above, let me just say that from Day 1, Ryan has called me “Champ” or “Champion.” Even when I was 276 pounds and couldn’t do a
push up for the life of me, at the end of our classes, he would say “See you
later, Champ.” In his correspondence to
me throughout the months, he addressed me as Champ. I didn’t feel like a champion, but eventually
you begin to believe it.
 |
| Ryan believed in me from Day One! |
Now, at this stage of your life, Ryan. I believe in YOU.
Specifically with the nutrition help he has given me EVERY
WEEK since January 18, I have lost 55 pounds, the airplane seat belt fits me
now, my blood pressure is normal and I am off all blood pressure medicine, my
Rheumatoid Arthritis is no longer in the high inflammation category, it is in
the lowest of low category, he helped me get within the correct weight to be
able to enjoy a helicopter ride with my family on a recent trip to Alaska, he
got me in the swimming pool again as I was a collegiate swimmer and he
encouraged me to swim a meet – first time in over 30 years. He taught me that eating is okay, in fact it
was very necessary. That one I still
struggle with. And with his encouragement
I have written those progress reminders on 5x7 cards that I keep with me all
the time lest I get discouraged. Like I
said in the first paragraph – he has helped me add years to my life!
I count myself fortunate because Ryan and I have a goal, he
has agreed to still meet with me once a week (payment for now is that computer
Ben’s building.). I believe we will meet
that goal and surpass it.
Dude – all I can say here to close this out is THANKS!
No comments:
Post a Comment