“Grateful is our Mindset”
Happy Wednesday, everybody. It’s hard to believe we are already in August. It seems as I get older, the years seem to go by faster and faster. Of course, that’s not true. Time is time, and you can’t speed it up or slow it down, but it does remind me to be grateful for every minute we have and to use it wisely. Eventually, as the years go by, we become thankful for the time that we have and the memories that we make.
This week I would like to share a trip I made to visit an old friend Mr. Robbie Roberts. Robbie and his wife Lisa joined TLC several years ago. Throughout the years, Lisa has been working very hard to help us change lives worldwide through our products and our community. Robbie has always been a supportive husband, but he has also been so much more than that.
Robbie not only supported Lisa and his daughter Amanda and his daughter-in-law Emily who were also involved in the business, but he supported the rest of us as well. He attended every physical TLC event he could and was part of as many virtual events or broadcasts as possible over the years. He constantly recognized others, supporting others and reminding them what a great job they had done, and just basically being positive all the time.
Robbie could be seen almost every day either wearing a TLC hat or shirt or some TLC branded material. As I mentioned, Robbie went out of his way to celebrate others, not just his family and not just people connected to Lisa’s business. Robbie never discriminated when it came to his support of anyone willing to be part of TLC. His consistent and persistent smile and positive attitude always helped brighten up a room.
Robbie attended so many events and even won free trips courtesy of Lisa’s hard work. Every time he went anywhere, he was always sharing with me, and our corporate team and anyone who would listen how grateful he was to be there and be around great people who had great attitudes. TLC is something he is grateful to be a part of.
About 13 months ago, tragedy struck and Robbie was involved in a severe car accident with his son Josh. Josh, who was driving, sustained some major injuries but was able to recover. On the other hand, Robbie had multiple injuries that quite honestly made it a miracle that he was alive.
The fact that he survived the accident was already a miracle. Still, his injuries involved him having so many surgeries, and his recovery process was going to be long, and excruciating made everybody very nervous as the days passed. Hundreds if not thousands of people prayed for him. His wife Lisa kept us posted through social media videos; we were all on edge, especially during the first 60 days.
On Saturday, Evan Brengman and I drove down to Bedford, Indiana, and surprised Robbie with a visit. We coordinated with Lisa, and she helped us make sure the surprise happened. We spent more than three hours with Robbie, and it reminded us to be grateful.
Robbie, of course, was so shocked to see us walk into his home. He immediately got up from his chair and embraced us, which was very inspiring for me to know as I did not expect him to be as mobile as he was. After the initial shock of our arrival wore off, we sat down and started to talk. Robbie must’ve mentioned to us about ten times in the first 20 minutes how grateful he was that we were there, and we reminded him that we were grateful to be there.
We started to discuss the accident that Robbie was involved in and because Robbie does not remember much of the first month or two after his accident, Lisa had to walk us through all the details. All the surgeries and all the things that had gone wrong, and all the setbacks that Robbie had during those first 60 days were quite remarkable to hear about.
We were shown all the x-rays of Robbie’s injuries, and we were amazed at how Robbie’s body had to be reconstructed as there was metal in almost every area of his body, including his upper neck. As I viewed the pictures, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that Robbie had somehow survived all of this. It was truly amazing, and they reminded me that life is so precious, and we take it for granted.
One thing that showed me that I needed to be more grateful the small things in life was something that Robbie shared with us that happened about 80 days after the accident. After those 80 days, Robbie was allowed to go outside, in a chair, of course, but it was his first time outdoors since the accident. When Lisa took him out, he immediately started crying, and she was confused as to why.
Like any of us would, Lisa immediately asked him, “What’s wrong?” Robbie replied that he was overwhelmed with emotion, happiness, and gratitude by just feeling the wind on his face and hearing the birds chirp outside. He had not been sure if he would ever experience something small like just being outside again, and he was grateful.
Robbie shared with us that there are so many things that he will never be able to do now, like drive a car or even travel in one without wearing a neck brace. He also will never have mobility in his neck and must turn his entire body to look left or right. Robbie made it very clear to us that he was very grateful that he now gets to see his family and granddaughters more frequently than he would’ve if he would not have been in the accident because of his permanent disabilities. This is such a fantastic attitude to have, and I could tell Robbie was authentic about it.
I even asked Robbie if he would do me the honor of recording my daily message for me, which he did. He wondered what he should say, and I told him to say whatever is on his mind. He spoke about how grateful he was, his mindset, and why we all should be grateful, it was an incredible moment.
The afternoon ended with Robbie showing us one of his joys in life which is his five horses. He did his special whistle, and the five horses ran towards him with such joy you can feel it in the air. It was a grateful moment for me because I witnessed some joy and happiness in his life, and I realized that we all need to start reminding ourselves to be thankful for the little things and the things that we take for granted.
This week I challenge you to learn from Robbie as I did. Just be reminded of the things around you that you should be grateful for. The little things like the air we breathe and the additional day we were blessed with today. We should even learn to be thankful for some of the things that we don’t like. Some of us don’t like our job, but maybe we should be grateful that we have one. Some of us don’t like our car, but we should be grateful that we have one. I think you get the point!
Be grateful this week cause Robbie Roberts (AKA the Miracle Man) said so!
Thank you for reading!
