My Everest Buddy!

Last year, right about this exact time of the year, Kim (pictured) was helping me prepare for a speech contest. Kim is a drama and speech teacher at my high school by the way. So anyway, my topic finally (after a lot of torment) became: Climb Your Everest. I figured out that my "Everest" was getting my pilot's license...a goal I had had since I was 7 years old. Kim quickly figured out that her "Everest" was to do a full marathon. We both committed right then to Climb our Everest! Last year at this time it seemed impossible for both of us. We are both full time teachers and we are both parents with younger children. Neither one of us is rich and Kim spends a lot of her time getting her students ready for their plays and speech tournaments etc and my son has special needs and special medical needs and of course that takes time and energy as well. I can say from my side, it was definitely harder than I thought it was going to be, but it didn't turn out to be impossible. This fall I was about to quit again when Kim caught a lucky break and had the opportunity to run in the NYC marathon! I was a little jealous at first, because now she had a tailwind so to speak and was super motivated...she had caught a lucky break. But, I was sincerely happy for her and a few days later I recommitted to get my climb up my Everest moving in high gear. I found a new instructor and a new airplane that fit me better and 2 weeks later I had summitted my Everest! 2 weeks later Kim ran her marathon in New York...it is really amazing how powerful goals can be especially if you think them out clearly and have an "Everest" buddy. Climbing an Everest is empowering and addictive. Kim now has the goal of running the Chicago marathon and then wants to run a marathon in all 50 states! A really cool goal. For me as far as flying goes, I want to be able to fly frequently enough to keep my skills honed, get my instrument rating, get a glider rating and then eventually become a flight instructor on weekends and summers. I also really want to help other people climb their Everest. My wife Suzanne is now laying the ground work to start her Everest climb...more on that later.