A Letter of Thanksgiving from Coach Mike

A Letter of Thanksgiving from Coach Mike

As I sit down to write this letter, I can’t help but reflect on how much has changed in my life over the past year. I was blessed to marry the love of my life, and together, we are raising two beautiful boys who fill our days with laughter, love, and chaos. It doesn’t matter what challenges I face when I walk out of my front door in the morning. Those three pairs of feet rushing to welcome me back through it make all of it worth it.

But this hasn’t just been a year of celebration. After years of pushing my body to its limits in baseball, fitness, competition and jiu-jitsu, I experienced my first major injury. In July, I had knee surgery, and for the first time in my life, I was forced to experience life from a completely different perspective: immobilized, restrained, and dependent. For months, I was unable to do the very things I had conditioned my mental health to rely on. I realized just how much I had taken for granted what my body can do.

It’s a gift to move your body.
It’s a gift to be able to do what we do.
It’s also a gift to exist.

“What punishments of God are not gifts? It’s a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There’s no escape from that.” – Stephen Colbert

Not to get all poetic on you, but if you step back and think about the universe, and all the moments of chance that lined up perfectly to bring you, me, and everyone around us to this exact moment, it’s truly a gift to be one of seven billion people on the only known planet in an infinite universe with life.

It’s a gift to look your friends in the eye and be accepted for your truest self.
It’s a gift to fall, to heal, and to rise again.
It’s a gift to love and be loved back.

This year reminded me that growth doesn’t always happen in motion. Sometimes it happens when we are forced to be still. My knee may have slowed me down, but it opened my eyes to how lucky I am just to move through this world, to carry my boys, to stand beside my wife, to put one foot in front of the other.

And if this year has taught me anything, it’s that every step, no matter how small, is progress, and every moment we’re given is worth cherishing.

With gratitude,

Mike Baugh

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