“Boy Bootcamp” written by Laura Burdo.
BOY BOOTCAMP
Interview Introduction
Hello, I’m Laura Burdo, The Pilates Preacher, with another PIPs w Peeps!
I’m here with Preston Allen, my 12.5 yr old grandson.
Preston: Hey Everybody!
Preston: So what do you want to talk about …?
Laura: Well, a few funny things that actually lead up to a tremendous thing!
Memory Lane
Laura: So Pres, lemme take you back 8 years, down memory lane. I wonder how much you remember about the summer just before you turned 5 years old. If you’ll recall, it was your first official introduction to the Pilates Method…
Preston: Oh yea… didn’t we call it Boy Bootcamp?!
Laura: We did! And instead of placing you in just another summer program, your mother connected the two of us – most days per week for about 1/2 hour or so.
Laura: Mostly, you were a good sport, but I can’t say that you were exactly thrilled about it. Whereas, I was over-the-moon excited!!
Preston: What I remember the most is the huge smile you had on face – and the Pilates Prizes!
Laura: You really gave me a run for my money – making me hone my teaching skills – especially in the area of persuasion. I had to dig deep into my bag of training tricks bc there were times when you didn’t want to do this at all, and you’d try anything to distract me… you’d try firing me, heckle me, blow spit-bubbles, even excusing yourself to the little-boys-room for very long periods of time!
Preston: Hey! I was barely 5 years old!
Laura: Oh I know, Pres, and you were AWESOME!
Preston: Well, I was motivated by the Pilates Prizes! I’d negotiate more than one sometimes – like another prize-per-exercise!
But then, I wanted more expensive stuff, instead of just toys from the dollar store.
Laura: Yea, and I’m ashamed to admit, that by the end of the summer, I remember paying you money!
Preston: Yes, we both were honing skills!
Laura: We were! Lol!
Working Behind The Scenes
Laura: This is exactly why we can’t always aptly access situations at the time they are unfolding, because that summer marked the onset of a most promising practice.
Preston, you’ve continued with Pilates, you even own & operate your own Reformer – and what a relationship you now have with your body!
Sometimes, we Facetime our lessons together, but today, I flew into Colorado to evaluate and to upgrade your Reformer regime.
Laura: There’s an old Proverb that says, “Train your child in the way that he should go, and when he grows old, he shall not depart from it.”
Preston: OK, so what about that tremendous thing??
A Tremendous Thing
Laura: OK. Preston, you were born with cerebral palsy. You’ve had years of physical therapies, procedures, and surgery. Your doctors were planning future years of ‘standard’ procedures – which are painful – with no guarantee of positive results – but it’s common protocol.
Recently, your parents got a second (or was it a third?) opinion from a leading Pediatric Surgeon who is soon to retire. Upon his careful review, it was discovered that for many years, your body has been very incrementally, yet systematically, correcting itself!
Therefore, you don’t need any further procedures and he implored your parents to reject the notion; stating that it could be a disaster to interrupt this process! (Down through the years, this doctor has seen this type of thing before, albeit very rarely.)
The medical team, your parents, and me, believe that this was a MIRACLE! And that’s a powerful word. One that, perhaps, conjures up confusion, anxiety, or even skepticism. Now, from our personal perception, this miracle is fact.
Things Hoped For
Maybe miracles are happening all the time, behind the scenes, through us all. Perhaps, you are in need to have God intervene. You’ve doing all that you can, and maybe you don’t understand. But know this. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things yet to be seen.
Who knows, Preston, maybe our miracle was finding that doctor, or having access to our various medical community all those years. To me, your parents deserve so much credit, but most of all, this young man who began, at the tender age of 2 years old, to exercise his faith through fitness!
Joe Quote
Laura: Pres, let’s end this PIP with a quote from Joseph Pilates.
Preston & Laura: “Every moment of our lives, can be the beginning of great things.”
Talk soon,
Laura Burdo
The Pilates Preacher
For more check out these articles:
1) PIPs with Peeps
2) Wasted
3) Happy Easter Fools Day
P.S. To hear more, please be sure to sign up to the 7 Heavenly PIPs.
