The Storyteller | Mary Vee

I am sitting in a coffee shop writing this post and heard two patrons sitting at a table next to me talking about a friend who couldn't possibly change. The person's future had been "etched in stone". The conversation bothered me. I guess, I'm the sort who feels it is never too late to change.  Careers have begun late in life. Retirement funds set aside late in life. PhD graduates have become taxi drivers. Truck drivers become professors. Yeah. I had a problem with the conversation. Their words brought me to today's winning topic for our discussion. Google Maps Today we will jet to Cambodia for an inspiring story. In a country where the low temperatures are in the 70's and the highs in the 90's, one wouldn't consider this a training ground for a winter sport. Surprise, Cambodia now has winter sports training. In the capital city, Phnom Penh, there is now a professionally groomed ice rink. It is the only one in the entire c...

The logo of the Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. My daughters and I have been avid followers of the Olympics for...I guess it started with me, even before we became a family.  Hubby and I could not afford a television. Yes, they had televisions instead of flat screens back then. Anyway, the Olympics games were due to start and I really wanted to watch them. Sad to say, this was even before live streaming on the Internet. Yes, it was a pathetic case. My mother-in-law, out of desperation to get some peace, loaned us her portable kitchen set  so I'd watch the games at hubby's and my apartment. In all of my viewing years, I cannot recall there ever being a refugee team before. This year,  the International Olympic Committee approved ten refugee athletes to compete in the games. Due to unrest in each one's homeland, these men and women did not have a country and therefore would not have been able to compete. The IOC created the refugee team just f...

Steele Johnson and David Boudia He grew up wanting to be just like him. Steele Johnson had watched David Boudia compete in two Olympics as an American diver. This year, Steele had a golden opportunity to be a teammate of...you guessed it, David Boudia. They stepped up to the platform, down 125 points. The final dive set to take place. The men positioned themselves for the crucial dive that would determine if they would make the American Olympic team traveling to Rio this year. David counted off. They stepped into motion. In the seconds that followed the men, perfectly synced, plunged into the waters below. A news reporter asked Steele how he felt. (Don't you just love these questions...like we couldn't imagine!!!) Steele, after spitting out a few words gained his composure and said, "The flips and all they do won't mean a thing in my future. Christ is the one who will." Wow. He said that to millions of viewers.  What I a...

There is a time, after great preparation, study, practice, and drive when we are on center stage. Perhaps we are cooking for our in-laws. Going for the treasured job interview. Taking the Bar exam. Giving birth. Some events take a life time of preparation, others moments.  Late week, Russian skater Evgeni Plushenko made a decision.  He'd skated early in the week as part of the Russian skating team and helped his country earn a gold medal. Plushenko worked through many injuries during the course of his training and endured many surgeries including having a synthetic disk placed in his back. He worked hard during rehabilitation and won the hearts of the audience and judges during the team skating competition. But later in the week, while warming up for the men's single skating program, he did a triple axle, fell, and felt pain surge in his back. He'd fallen several times during the practice each time experiencing the back pain. According to NBC sports, he knew ...