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We chatted on the phone this afternoon to discuss how we\u2019d even approach this, for once taking our Dad\u2019s advice to look back over the last six weeks of our lives to gain some perspective on Chris\u2019 journey. We\u2019ve both accomplished a reasonable amount: a few international trips, a couple of soccer wins, some degree of progress at work and school. More or less usual fare.<\/p>\n
\u00a0But our Uncle\u2026 well it goes without saying at this point. He\u2019s pedaled his way some 3,300 odd miles. That\u2019s roughly 1.4 Million pedal strokes (slow work day today, so we crunched the numbers) and has zig-zagged mostly east across the vast (just about United) states that make up America. Like you all, we\u2019ve followed every step with awe, admiration, and a touch of anxiety about whether Chris will make it through whatever grueling obstacle that will face him that day.<\/p>\n
\u00a0One thing that has yet to cross either of our minds, though, is doubt. Barring a natural phenomenon or unforeseeable balls up (substitute \u201cscrew up\u201d for our American readers) there is just no reasonable scenario in which Chris will ever come off second best; that he won\u2019t make it every foot of the way. It\u2019s easy to say at this point, but genuinely, knowing him as well as we do, there hasn\u2019t been an iota of uncertainty over the last forty-five days (save for England\u2019s World Cup match against Tunisia).<\/p>\n
I mean we\u2019re talking about the same Chris who has doggedly driven down his handicap through eye-watering hours of practice. Seriously, who actually practices golf aside from the pros? We all want to be good, but virtually no one bothers to grind out the hours required to be good.<\/p>\n
This is the same Chris who was a famously resilient nurse, once covered from head to toe in what can only be described as organic waste, and after a quick trip home to change (you know, we never asked how he got home in that state), came right back undeterred to bang out the rest of his shift.<\/p>\n
\u00a0It\u2019s the very same Chris who has, along with his brother (our Dad) and their Mum, made light work of the considerable obstacles and hindering circumstances that life has thrown at them. Together they\u2019ve transcended barriers and boundaries to achieve success in their careers, pursuits, and marriages. Even more impressively it has all been realized through nothing but hard work, without ever losing sight of the important things: happiness, family, friends, maybe golf again.<\/p>\n
\u00a0We\u2019ve had front row seats to watch all of this unfold over the last 18 odd years, and we\u2019ve sat by lazily to watch some of the last 18 months of practice. Riding on Christmas Eve, I\u2019m sure partially to escape Tom\u2019s incessant stories, (another family trait) is a perfect example of pushing himself further where most would sit back and skip a session. That preparation and passion is evidently what it takes to do something great: a lesson always worth reinforcing, regardless of your age, the size of the undertaking, or the chances that you\u2019ll succeed in doing it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Chris has talked a lot to us, and through this blog to you, about the diagnosis he received last year. It\u2019s a hypothesis \u2013 but we\u2019d say it\u2019s a safe one \u2013 that our small and tight knit family is well equipped to deal with things like this, and we do so better than most\u2026 not that it\u2019s a competition. The disposition of each individual aside, we\u2019ve generally been an overly rational, frustratingly logical, emotional but reserved bunch \u2013 handling adversity as it comes, with humour and a shrug.<\/p>\n
\u00a0That shrug, approaching serious almost insurmountable challenges with indifference, should not be confused with apathy. We deeply care. About Chris, his health, his success, his journey \u2013 but we certainly won\u2019t obsess or worry over it. In the same way we never doubted his ability to succeed and achieve, we don\u2019t doubt that his exhilarating life will unfold in its own pre-ordained pace and that, between us, we\u2019ll overcome any of the literal and metaphorical \u201cKansas rollers with a headwind\u201d that we might stumble upon.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Call it faith, assurance in fate, abject ignorance, whatever you like \u2013 it\u2019s our way of dealing, and it seems to work. We know that Chris approaches life in a similar way and hope that he knows we\u2019re squarely behind him, unwavering in our support, and ready to have his back whenever it\u2019s required, in the same way he\u2019s had ours since we were toddlers.<\/p>\n
\u00a0It\u2019s cathartic to talk about these things, important even, but as the stoic Brits that we are, this is a generally unseen phenomenon \u2013 broadcasting our thoughts on the internet, a foreign concept for most of us. But now that we have, it\u2019s worth re-stating: we couldn\u2019t be more proud of the man of the moment and his trusty steed.<\/p>\n
All that remains then, is to say a sincere thanks to the man himself \u2013 we know that you embarked on this for yourself Chris, but it\u2019s resonated farther and wider than I\u2019m sure you could have imagined. If that isn\u2019t a testament to resiliency, hard work, and determination I don\u2019t know what is. We\u2019ve always been big admirers of our Uncle. There are not too many who are lucky enough to boast of two male role models in their immediate family \u2013 but the unbreakable loyalty, innate generosity, and unwavering love of two brothers we\u2019ve looked up to all our lives, certainly means that we can. And that\u2019s perhaps the most exciting thing about this journey. Now everyone associated with it, or those who have followed along in any capacity, can share in that too.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Congratulations on this incredible achievement Chris. Head down the home stretch with pride, as you\u2019ve more than earned it. We\u2019ll see you in Boston.<\/p>\n
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[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”] We chatted on the phone this afternoon to discuss how we\u2019d even approach this, for once taking our Dad\u2019s advice to look back over the last six weeks of our lives to gain some perspective on Chris\u2019 journey. We\u2019ve both…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2018-la-boston","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1902"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242330,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902\/revisions\/242330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifewithedge.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}