A Moment of Gratitude

I know its true for myself, and I'd venture to say its true for many out there, that we all tend to get wrapped up in ourselves from time to time. Bloggers especially can fall into this trap. Lets face it, we talk about ourselves a lot. I try to make it a point to let people know that I appreciate them regularly, but as I said its hard sometimes.

When I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago, everyone knew I wasn't dying or anything. For all intents and purposes it was routine...for me. I had suffered yet another TIA (mini-stroke) and though this was the first hospitalization, it certainly was not my first rodeo. What was amazing to me was the fact that even though I was fine, and everyone knew that...people showed up. I get a little choked up just putting that on paper. It blows me away that someone would willingly go into a hospital when they don't have to, in order to see someone who is doing well and ready to get the heck out of there.

As you can see by reading my past few posts, I learned some pretty shocking and difficult news about my heart while I was in the hospital, and with the love and support of my wife plus the support of everyone who came to see me or called or texted me, I knew I had a deep bench to call upon during difficult times.

I am eternally grateful to Caleb from The Fightworks Podcast. Without him, well there would be no Fightworks Podcast first off. Secondly, he is the reason I started this silly little blog to begin with. Last year when he posted his list of blogs he reads and the instructions on how to view them in google reader I followed his advice. That introduced me to this wonderful community we have. Before then I never knew just how many others shared my passion. I came to love checking reader daily, to see what was going on in the lives of Gringa, 365, Slidey, Steve, Valerie, Farts and countless others. This was the perfect outlet for someone like me.

Caleb was kind enough to include me in his listing late last year and now that he has posted his revised "Blogs I read" list / file, I find myself on there again. I really am grateful for that. Because anyone who has read my blog lately has found pretty much zero Jiu Jitsu content as I have been off the mats since mid to late January. So, a big THANK YOU Caleb. I'm so glad you are out there. Below is the link to Caleb's post which has the OPML file and instructions to upload and use Google Reader.

http://thefightworkspodcast.com/2009/04/02/bjj-blogs-i-read-updated/

Or if you are more tech savvy than I, here is the OMPL file itself:

Download the OPML File of BJJ Blogs Here

Also, I am so thankful to everyone who reads this blog. Those of you who left me comments after my first post out of the hospital, I want you to know I truly appreciate it. You guys are the reason I love this sport so much. From the outside it can look so imposing and even hostile, but once you are inside it, the only word to describe it is...family. Thank you all for being a part of mine.