Sunday, February 5, 2012

When the Rubber Meets the Road

The euphoria of watching your plan come together has lifted and you are facing the harsh reality of logistics. You find yourself standing in the middle of a large warehouse overwhelmed with truckload after truckload of gymnastics equipment, pallets stacked high with boxes you can't lift, everything with major assembly required, and suddenly you realize that you need help from your friends, all the help you can get! But people have busy lives and responsibilities of their own. Who can find the time to help you, to be there when the rubber meets the road, when it really counts? Tracy Lawrence wrote a great country song about it:
"...Somebody's gonna drop everything, Run out and crank up their car, hit the gas, get there fast, never stop to think, 'What's in it for me?' or 'It's way too far!' They just show on up with their big old heart..." Tracy Lawrence, Find Out Who Your Friends Are
In building my own gymnastics school from scratch, I've discovered that people will come through for you. They will help you meet the challenge and ask for nothing in return. The amount of help I have received during the past week and continue to receive daily is a testament to that truth. It reaffirms how I feel about this area and its children. If you want to build a gymnastics facility and have it last, you first have to love your community and want to make it better. When the community sees your true motivation and understands why you are doing it, not for financial gain or to one-up someone else, but to provide something wonderful for children, something of the highest quality because their children are worth it, they will understand, just as your friends already do.  And they will be there too, when the rubber meets the road!