A New Anniversary

My pilot is on the left, this was a ride he did last year that was 120 miles. 3 years ago on February 8, 2010 he received a life saving kidney transplant from my best friend. I was going to talk about the time he was on dialysis and how he felt his life had been put on hold. But this year I wanted to focus on all the amazing things he has done since he received his transplant. I think for him he felt like he had to enjoy life more and not take for granted what he used to, he didn't want our friend to feel like she had given him this new life for nothing. He began riding a road bike and started to do longer rides. Last year he did the MS150, which was a 2 day 180 mile ride from Houston to Austin to fund raise for the National MS society. He broke his foot in my uncle's pool the day before the ride.  Not knowing he broke his foot, he rode 100 miles the first day and 80 the second with a broken foot. He found out later after we had flown home from Texas. He was a first officer with his company before he went out on medical leave. After returning to work he upgraded to captain on the Airbus 320. Since he was able to go back to work and upgrade, this allowed me to become a stay at home mom. Thanks to my best friend our quality of life as a family has been amazing. I believe that this event in our life truly brought us even closer together. Honestly when he was sick all I wanted to do was take his place. I did everything I could to make sure he was supported and loved. Sometimes events in our lives will test the strength of our relationships and I believe this made our relationship even stronger. I am definitely more thankful today for his health and I want to continue to live a healthy lifestyle for him and our son. He is currently training for another 100 mile ride in June, this one is to benefit the American Transplant Foundation. I just have to end this by saying I am incredibly proud of him and feel that I am the luckiest woman in the world to be his wife. And thank you to my best friend for giving him his life back, we love you very much.