Trent spoke at a middle school today for Disability Awareness Week. What the?? We sure didn't have those when we were growing up. We went to the middle school and watched as hundreds of kids poured into the gymnasium. Yikes! I was nervous for Trent. Nothin like trying to keep hundreds of middle schoolers entertained!
I have heard Trent speak in so many different settings. Baccalaureate's, church, youth groups, seminars, retirement centers, schools...you name it. He is such a fabulous speaker. I can honestly say that I never tire of hearing him speak, especially when he tells his story of how he broke his neck during a football game in high school. It is so amazing to me. As I sat there watching the students enthralled as Trent spoke (that in and of itself is nothing short of a miracle!), I could not help but feel grateful to be married to such an inspiring, wonderful guy. I wish I could have recorded the whole thing and put it on my blog, it was awesome.
One interesting point of his story that I love is when he tells of how he was laying on the field, in the rain, after the huge tackle that broke his neck, and he sees an arm by him, and he is thinking, "Get off me man"... and then he sees a cut on the finger, and realizes that it is his own arm that he is seeing, but can not feel it or associate it with his body at all. I can not imagine going through something like that. I could go on and on about how his friends and community rallied around him, his determination to work hard and succeed. His story is so inspiring. It sounds like a made for TV Hallmark movie. I wonder who they would get to play me? Jessica Simpson? Angelina Jolie? It would be hard to find someone as smokin hot as I am. And Humble. :)
P.S. on Monday, November 3, it will be 20 years since Trent broke his neck. He was 16.
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11 comments:
You, my dear, are amazing! You can get me to go from crying to peeing-my-pants-laughing in one paragraph!
Sounds like a great story, makes me want to hear him speak. I think maybe a little Julia Roberts might be in order.
I like your kind of thinking Heidi. Julia Roberts...yeah that could work.
Wow - Amazing! (and i vote for Julia Roberts.)
You know, as a parent of football players, this scenario (the injury, not the public speaking) terrifies me constantly. It's a very fine line to walk as a mother, knowing when to stand calmly on the sidelines and when to freak out because you can't see his legs moving. And an even finer line between giving them freedom and support, and hovering mercilessly.
Don't you guys want to make a trip out to speak to OUR youth??
Tracy...too bad you don't live some place exotic. We'd be there in a heartbeat. Utah is great and all, but Hawaii...now we're talkin! :)
Wow. I have been reading your blog for a while and never realized Trent was in a wheelchair. High school football?? WOW. What an amazing and inspirational person he is.
I hope you/he has recorded his experiences somewhere. What an inspiration. I didn't know when his accident occurred. Thanks for sharing!
I still remember hearing you and Trent speak in our ward at UCLA. I don't remember a lot of WHAT you said, I just remember being inspired by Trent's story and thinking you guys were a really cool couple! Now you are a really cool family! :)
I remember when that happened. He didn't live in Pocatello any more but I remember when we got word. Shane actually cried. (Can you tell on guys like that?) I was shocked. I thought "That can't happen to the kid who used to fart on my front porch just to see my reaction, the kid that used to sleep over, hang out, the kid that was going to play for the NFL" (we were sure of it). I'm so glad he is who he is and didn't let it take him under. What an amazing person you married. Of course, he married someone amazing too! I'm voting for Nicole Kidman.
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