Les’s accident allowed us to accelerate our pace of learning what really matters for living life well and with purpose.  We are grateful for becoming “more” aware of what really matters in life.

We believe your involvement in Les’srecovery helps each of you to become “more”aware of life’s secrets and helps you discover a “more” fulfilling life sooner. We know this has occurred and offer this as clear evidence that the changes of June 1, 2008 have created “more”for many.

Les has publically demonstrated that he chooses to take responsibility for his recovery and he is using his days, one at a time, to make the marathon of mini steps towards his new normal.  He is offering all his supporters proof that the “power to choose” is the key to his and every individual’s successful life.  We are “more” proud of the courage Les is showing in his fight to recover than the courage he demonstrated on the ice battling in the games we all loved to watch him compete in.  Remember, “we cannot guarantee success, but we can guarantee failure merely by choosing not to try at all” – quote from John Izzo in his book – “The Five Secrets you must Discover before you Die”.

We have experienced a lot of change in thelast 12 months.  I think we must acknowledge the feelings of loss or “less” imposed on Les after the accident and then move on. 

We have acquired much “more” power by living in the moment rather than in the regrets ofthe past or in the fear of the future. Another quote from John Izzo’s book says“Focusing on the past, especially on regret, has the power only to rob the present moment of its happiness”. 

It has been “more” challenging to keep “fear” of the future from creeping into our “living in the moment” strategy.  Some“more” quotes from John Izzo, which helped us stay on course:

“Worry about the future has only one real power and that is the power to steal joy”  “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but it always robs today of its joy”

“Life was not what happened to you, it was how you reacted to it”  “Living the moment means choosing to be in a place of gratitude”

“We cannot always control the outcome, but we can control our reactions.  Each day we can bring all we have to that day, choosing to live it fully, seeing it as a great gift.”

“We can choose not to judge our lives from moment tomoment (am I successful, happy, unhappy, a failure, good, bad) but simply to live our life.”

“If you sit in the front row everywhere you are, everyday, and in every moment, you will die a happy person”.  Remember – it is always your choice!

Going forward, we know we will get “more” from our lives and leave this life happier if we choose to live in the moment.  I hope “more”of you gain insights from our experiences that help you adopt the “living in the moment” approach and it helps you have a better life.

I think it is better to focus on identifying the changes that have brought “more”to Margie & me. 

Les’s transition is personal for him andour reflections are not meant to be accurate for him – he alone lives his recovery.  We believe Les has had “more” support than we could have ever imagined.  It has been in “more” forms than we could have imagined:

It started for us with his caregivers in the ICUs where he spent two months.  They are so much “more” than nurses and doctors. They became personal friends and went far beyond our expectations to deliver much “more” than medical care – they truly “cared”.

The personal care, sacrifice,and love from Kara and her family, gives him so much “more”, that it is possible for him to stay in his home and live in his chosen community.

His chosen community – northern Colorado – has done “more” then donate generously to his recovery fund, they have shown their love for our son,which gives him “more” awareness about himself, shows him he was “more” admired and looked up to than he realized before the accident.

The hockey community has done so much “more” than we could have dreamed – Tyler, the CHL, and the former team mates and opponents have united and created TeamBorsheim.

The Eagles organization from Martin, to Chris, to the office staff, to the players, and yes the “more” than 5,000 fans that joined Les at the rink to cheer the team every game. What could be “more”important to a man’s recovery, than to feel the acceptance and support of so many at every home game.  It wasn’t easy to attend, but it was such a good therapy for him – we are proud of his strength and the strength he gained helps him to build his confidence and do “more”.

We have received so much “more” from our local community of Watrous and our family than we could have ever imagined.  The financial support is so much “more” than we expected, but it is backed up by the ongoing caring that is always wondering how Les is doing and they keep adding their caring to build “more”lift for Les’s recovery balloon’s flight.

Lately, Les has moved into “more” of  a routine with the great personal rehab program developed and delivered by Dave and his people at the SCI Recovery Project in Boulder.  Their motto is“Hope, independence, and recovery for spinal cord injuries”.  They are delivering this and “more” to Les in their three hour,three times a week program – they give him his daily “activity” that builds his physical and mental strength in partnership with his personal drive to work on his recovery.  They are providing a wonderful service to the spinal cord injury (SCI) community and we want to urge you to consider sharing some of your financial generosity with them so they can continue to help “more” SCI victims– contact their web site - http://scirecoveryproject.com/ - if you can help.

In the future other resourceshave identified themselves, such as Chris at the heated pool in Greeley, andmany “more” supporting individualsand groups in the area that Les as yet to have had time to integrate into his daily schedules. 

In the future, I know it will be of great benefit to Les’s recovery if he can be given “more” opportunities to give something back to the community that has been so generous to him – such as personal and team coaching and sharing his story in presentations to schools and other groups.  He has benefited “more” than you can know from the opportunities he was given over the winter.

My reflections come from my observations combined with my personal wishes for his recovery, tempered by my view of reality and with my mistakes.  We are in transition ourselves as we take action and learn, we grow, and we believe we grow towards fulfillment.

I am going to record the ways we received “more” this past year by bringing backsome of my personal experiences and lessons:

No History

The first day after the accident, Les gave me some advice, he said – “no history dad”. I could not be “more” proud of my son and the wisdom he showed in telling me this.  This advise has “more” often then you might believe, been the catalyst for me to focus on the future, to look forward and seek “more” from life after the accident and not allow myself to slip back into futile negative thoughts of “loss” or “less”.

An attitude of gratitude

Margie and I have learned so much “more” about the attitude of gratitude from our experiences over the past year. It has been one of our “more” difficult lessons to learn.  We are “more” complete people since we learned to be comfortable with the generosity of everyone who have supported Les in so many “more” ways than just financial.

Martin suggested to me a year before the accident, that he believed the key to success was to be generous.  It was his experience that the “more” you gave, the “more” that came back.  I am not sure if Martin believes this because the community he grew up in taught him this, or if his leadership in the community has nurtured northern Colorado to embrace the concept. 

Northern Colorado gets the “attitude of gratitude” and this is “more” than a little responsible for it being such a great place to live. 

Release fear

I think it is fair to say “more” of us fear change than embrace it.  I know that a key to everyone’s success is to release fear and enjoy change. The dramatic changes we have dealt with over the year have shown us weare “more” prepared to handle change then we knew.  “Necessity is the mother of invention”, we often have to face adversity to learn how we perform under extreme pressure.  We are not looking for any “more” adversity to further our education, but we have learned how important the release of fear is if we want to manage change effectively.  It is a key step to living comfortably in the moment.

Release judgemental thinking

This is another of the “simple truths” thatis often “more” sought after than achieved.  The past year introduced us to many individuals who have succeeded in employing this ideal.  One example that stands out for me is Senator Steve Johnson.  Steve is “more” interested in doing what he feels is “right” than in judging if this is politically correct or if it makes the most of the time he invests.  As a result of meeting and working with folks like Steve, I am “more” motivated by their successes to be like them.

Allowing

It is a simple concept – “allow others to choose their actions and to learn the lessons they choose to learn from these experiences”.  However, I needed the experiences of the last year to give me “more”evidence of how accepting this is a key to handling the everyday “stuff”that can bog us down.

We have so much “more” to be thankful for because of the changes that started one year ago.

We have “more” to look forward to and we have activated new ways to use our senses “more” effectively because we are now watching and helping Les on his unique recovery journey.

It sounds odd to look back on a year such as we experienced, and say, actually believe, all this has been a blessing to us in giving us “more” tools and improved skills for having a full and satisfying life, but it is true.

We know your ongoing support combined withour lessons from the experiences of year one will help Les find “more” pieces to the puzzle of his recovery in year two and his transition to the new “Les”.  You judge – did we receive “more or less” from our first year into recovery?  I think much “more”!!

Con

Margie’s “Reflections” one year after:

Some wise person said “there is always good that comes out of bad” – it is so true.

For us there has been so much“good/goodness”, it’s hard to think about the bad of Les’s accident.

It is difficult to put into words how important your caring support has been to all of us.

It is a “heart” feeling I am unable to describe, but please know it is with us every moment of every day.

The days that followed Les’s accident were a blur and I know many people went personally unthanked –  my sincere apologies because I want you to know I am truly so grateful and in awe of the many ways people gave to Les,Con, and myself.

In the past year the words “kindness”,“goodness”, has become so real and meaningful and the list of people to thank –long and expansive.

You all play an important role in Les’s ongoing recovery and I thank you, each of you, all of you.

Thank you – two small words but I say them meaningfully to each of you as they convey the “infinite feeling of gratitude in my heart”.

Margie