Elmhurst Trip Day 2

Day 2 Friday September 19, 2008

Once again I left the house at 4:30 am for Doc Jev’s office in Elmhurst. This morning I sat in Doc Jev’s office for a while autographing my picture for the 3rd and 4th kids I had spoken to, to different business I was privileged to meet, and some of Doc Jev’s close friends and family. I think the entire time I was there I signed at least 400 pictures to people….that is the same thing I thought WOW 400 plus people would like a picture of me, I thought I was in the twilight zone or something!!!! LoL or people were looking for some extra packing paper. The pictures that Doc Jev had printed up were really nice, one was a photo comp composed of eight smaller pictures, one was the main picture from my web-site, and the last picture was a black and white head shot of me printed up by Courts Plus.

After I was done signing some of the pictures we left and headed over to the Community Bank of Elmhurst http://www.communityelmhurst.com/ to speak with one of Doc Jev’s mentors Bill Gooch Chairman of the Bank. While at the bank I met some other great people who work there including Richard Reichert (CEO) , Nancy Brook (Senior VP), Nicole Radosky (Marketing) and others. We joked around a bit and took a few pictures and evidently Nancy had heard that I had been doing sit-ups with children on my back so she insisted that I try doing a few with her on my back, I was completely caught by suprise!!! LoL OK….so maybe Bill bet me that I could not do it…. and maybe Nicole and Doc Jev coaxed Nancy…. and maybe Nancy was a good sport and participated in it even though she was turning really red… but that is a lot of maybes! Hahaha.

Finished with the office shanagains Bill invited Doc Jev and I into his office to talk. It was a private conversation so I will not go into detail about it. But I will say this Bill Gooch left me with a good impression of who he is as a person, as man, and as a Christian. I firmly believe you can see a person’s soul if you look deep into their eyes and the truth will appear. I do it to everyone I meet because lets face it you can find yourself surrounded by a lot of false and crooked people in this world if you are not careful. Bill told me a few different stories but one one statement he made really resounded in my mind. Bill told me to always keep your faith and family before work and anything else! Because if you think about it you can lose a hundred jobs in your life but you will only truly be ruined if you lose your faith which makes you who you are and your family who you love and supports you no matter what. I do not know about you but for me that is good advice!!!!! After the office visit we went and met Bill’s daughter and granddaughters just to say hello, it was fun and they were really chill people.

Next on our Elmhurst tour was a talk to the York High School Women’s Tennis Team!!! This might be the one speech I was really nervous about. Remember none of the speeches I have been giving the last two days have been written down or rehearsed it was just me talking from what I know and my experiences. Needless to say I have never been a teenage girl lol Nor a tennis player!!! But how ironic is life I do have four older sisters, and a bunch of female friends who talk to me about everything under the sun about being a woman! Then for the past two years I have been friends with both the Men’s and Women’s Tennis Teams at Wake Forest University!!!!! So guess what I was prepared to give this speech before I even realized it!!! That’s God doing not mine! From the response I got from the team I can tell it went well. I talked about the usual sport topics such as working hard, finishing a match strong, digging out that last set (my boy Corey Par at Wake knows all about that) off season workouts and eating right. I then touched on the subject of peer pressure in high school, college, and the professional world from friends and their male counterparts. I spoke on society’s distorted perception of what a beautiful woman should look like as it is portrayed in some of these teen and other popular magazines. I stressed being comfortable with who you are especially since most women who play sports tend to be built a little more muscular and heavier than those who do not participate in sports. I also talked about some of the female athletes’ that I know personally and the obstacles they face in earning respect for what they do and their willingness to keep fighting no matter how tuff a battle they face. The team and the coach thanked me for coming to speak with them and me and Doc Jev were off to another adventure!!! UP! UP! UP! AND AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL (THAT’S FUNNY RIGHT THERE, I DON’T CARE WHERE YOU ARE FROM THAT’S FUNNY!)

After leaving the ladies of York we went to go speak with our friends over at International Contractors, Inc. This talk was solely on me and the sport of Bobsledding, since the people I was addressing were composed of designers and engineers I was able to get into more of the technical aspects of the sport. Detailing some of the testing that we do in wind tunnels for better aerodynamics, the different dimensions our runners are cut into and the rock and pitch of the runners. How the chemical reaction between the steel and Ice affect if runners are fast or slow. At the end of my speech I was given a gift bag with some company shirts and a couple of really nice gift cards for some of the best restaurants in the Chicago, New York, and Wisconsin!!!! Needless to say I enjoyed the gift bag! J

Our day was winding down but we had one more school to stop by. We went over to Brooke Forest Elementary where Doc Jev’s wife Laura teaches 2nd class. For these kids I held off the huge presentation because I did not know how responsive they would be to it but I did bring in my gear and talked to them about the sport and developing good work habits. I felt like Gulliver from Gulliver’s Travels, these kids were little beyond little they were tiny! It was fun and a little more random questions and statements then what I had been use to. This one little guy told me about a guy that worked for his father for more than 15 years….lol…not sure what that had to do with bobsledding but he made his point! What the point was I am still not sure but he made it!
From Brooke Forest we went out to a few more of Doc Jev’s friend’s houses and businesses. I was still amazed at the positive reception that I received from everyone. I know Doc Jev had a lot to do with that but it was still nice to find common ground with all those I talked with. I find myself searching for words to describe how I felt while all this was going on but even the most extravagant or eloquent word could not communicate the joy I was feeling at this opportunity I have been given.