Life is what you make it, so make it a good one

I was covering a Special Olympics track meet a few years ago when I had one of those, “Aha” moments.

I rushed into the stadium hoping to photograph the first special thing I saw and move on. The announcer called for the 400-meter run, so I set up on the far side of the track on turn three for the best light and a chance to use the lane lines for the shot. As I was getting prepared, my cold, cold heart sank when I saw a woman push her walker to the starting line. No one else, just this woman and her walker.

Being the recovering punk that I am, my first thought was this is going to take forever. They fired the gun and she started her journey. Step, clank, step, clank … and so it went, one step at a time around for 400 meters.

As I grumbled under my breath, thinking about my time management and something more important that this, I felt a tug on my shirtsleeve. As I looked down, I saw a young man with Down Syndrome standing there holding out a Wyoming Special Olympics T-shirt. His vocabulary was limited, but I understood when he held the shirt up and said, “You.”

The woman on the track was his friend and I was going to put her picture in the newspaper. God could have whispered in my ear and it wouldn’t have made a bigger impact.

It took the woman 30 minutes to make that single loop around the track. But when she did, she finished to a standing ovation. I’ve talked to John Elway and Joe Montana on the same day. I sat down with Don Larsen and spent 30 minutes on the phone talking to Yogi Berra about the only perfect game in World Series history. But this single act of courage is one sporting event I will remember forever.

Every now and then, I take that T-shirt out of the drawer and put it on. Even though my six pack has turned into a keg, I wear it to remind me that life is what you make it.

I’ve had a couple of those God Shots since moving to Moses Lake. I had a chance to sit down with bull rider Wade Leslie the other day. We talked about life on top of the world and days when life sucks. Wade’s been through a lot since posting the 100-point ride in rodeo history. He ended up breaking his back in 2000 when he rolled his truck, and has been in a wheelchair ever since.

You hear a lot stories about superstars’ struggles when they stop shining the spotlight on them, but tell that to the guy with five kids that just got laid off at the factory. As I watched Wade do wheelies in his chair going up the gravel road outside his mobile home in George, I remembered that story in Cheyenne a couple decades ago.

Wade rode at Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Daddy of ’Em All. Life’s changed and I have no idea what his daily struggles are in his war against reality. He gave one of those quotes I’ll remember for a good long time.

“I’m more than just a cowboy. I try to tell people the 100-point ride is something I did, it’s not who I am,” said Leslie, who was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2012. “It was either get on livin’ or get on dyin’.”

Thanks for reminding all of us to cowboy up.

Then there was Moses Lake High School foreign exchange student Abraham Massalay from Republic of Liberia on the West Africa. Abraham’s been in a wheelchair since he was five. Comes from a poor village where there is no running water or electricity, so his time in Moses Lake was a time of wonder. I will remember his infectious smile and beautiful soul.

“I know God has something planned for me,” said Massalay, who won two state championships and set a new state record at the state track meet. “People always ask me, ‘Why are you always so happy … never sad?’ I’m a person that has passed through a lot of stuff and I thank God for the opportunities I do have. I believe in myself and I trust God.”

Life truly is what you make it, so make it a good one.