And what a great night it was.
The RASC honors local athletes in various categories and the night is filled with videos and speeches and silent auction items to be raise money for a local charity. This year, that charity is the Shannon O'Hara Foundation.
Dan and I had the opportunity to share our story with 660 sports enthusiasts that were in attendance. We never tire of spreading Shannon's message, and we hopefully reached some people last night who have never heard about the little brown eyed girl with the strong will and the big heart.
The featured speaker last night was Olympic Gold Medalist Bart Conner. He was self deprecating about being married to someone more famous than himself, Nadia Comaneci. They have 11 Olympic medals between them, and 9 of them are hers...
Bart thanked us for sharing Shannon's story and he found it inspiring enough to purchase one of our Keep Calm and Be Kind t-shirts for his wife. As he stood at the podium and held up the t-shirt, he told the audience, "Nadia Comaneci will be wearing this tomorrow night!" So cool.
Bart's message is a lot like Shannon's. He spoke about finding your passion, enjoying the process, giving it your all, and letting go of the things that are out of your control.
He was a world champion in 1979 and the top American gymnast with gold medal hopes heading into the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The US boycott of those games was devastating for him, but also beyond his control. That missed opportunity led Bart to persevere and continue training and preparing for one more shot at Olympic glory in 1984. There, he reached the pinnacle winning a team gold and an individual gold on the parallel bars.
So, another event, another fundraiser, another chance to share our story is behind us. I am so grateful that Shannon can continue to inspire, and hopefully make a small difference in this big world.
