Just One More Rep...

In an incredibly weird piece of timing, two days before I was to go to South Florida for the ABA Family Law Section meeting and to visit Mom and Dad, Dad fell and broke his pelvis.  (Don't worry, he's doing pretty well, and I am more than a little impressed with Hollywood Memorial Hospital's rehabilitation ward - they are amazing!)  I spent my time in South Florida going between the conference and the hospital.  During some of my time with Dad, I got to participate in his physical therapy wth him.  Of course, doing that reminded me of, you guessed it, the Trenches.  As you might expect, physical therapy with a broken pelvis is incredibly painful, but it is vital if Dad wants to remain ambulatory.  Every little bit of progress hurts, but Dad keeps powering through, because he knows the pain now is necessary for him to have a full life later.  It's the same with our clients here in the Trenches.  Their time here hurts - a lot.  The people who make the effort to work through the pain, and by that I mean take our advice and take care of themselves, physically, mentally and emotionally, come out of the Trenches able to move on with their lives in meaningful, productive ways.  The people for whom the pain is a signal to stop until it goes away are the folks we see time and again.  We know it hurts, it pains us to see the hurt, but we know that only by facing the pain and working through it will life be good again. So, like Dad's physical therapist, we push and ask for just a bit more progress each day.  We want our clients to walk out of our lives with their heads up high, able to take on any challenges that come their way.  Then,we know we've succeeded - here in the Trenches.