Chip and a chair is not just a poker term for me!

This may be a longer read than usaul, but if you ever lacked motivation, inspiration, desire, etc.. in anything ; doesnt have to be poker but anything in life, you owe it to yourself to read all this!

So you all have heard , most likely of a chip and a chair in poker terms.

well the same goes in life as well. I would like to share 2 wonderful stories in this case , but not

In poker, but in life in general. My 1st storie is about a friend i have had for about 14 years now.

His name is robert ackerman. he loved the outdoors, had always had a spice for life. well almost 2 years ago now, robert was on his way to work, driving down the freeway , a little past Park city, Utah.

Im not sure exactly what happened , but it was a cold winter morning with snow and ice. robert rolled his truck down an inbankment and rolled and rolled and rolled. as robert sat there where he was not visible to traffic or any set of eyes, he sat there thinking that this might be the end of his life.

And then 2 people taking a walk decided just out of a feeling decided to take a certain path for thier walk that day. yes! that path was right in roberts direction, and when they came across Robert, they called for medical attention for him. ( thank you so much for finding my friend! )

Well Robert learned that he had no feeling from his waist down, and never would. so with that you would think, he would just give up on life and just except a handicap role in life right? nope! not him.

As soon as Robert got out of the hospital, he picked up right where he left off. Although he is in a wheelchair, he still goes, hunting, skiing, rides atv's , drives a car, well, pretty much everything he did when he had use of his legs. he competes regularly in bike racing competitions as well. ( he is on the left in this pic)

Now my second storie is about my wifes cousin , as some of you know about , through my previous blogs.

Mike Aitken is a world known bmx bike rider and about a month and a half ago was shooting a video like the ones i have posted in some of my blogs. he fell on his face which left him in a coma as well , not many people gave him a chance to recover, by just thinking either he would never wake up and if he did, would never be the same.

Well Mike did wake up, and although alot of people thought he would never be the same, he has prooved so many wrong! He is now out of the hospital after blowing not only his friends and familys minds, but even the doctors are amazed that mike has recovered so well!

He still needs to get his right side of his body working properly , but as he waits for his out patient rehab, he has built a gym in his house and started rehabbing on his own. And is amazingly recovering a little more everday!

He has even made a commitment to ride professionaly again. as well i have heard , he has always wanted to start his own clothing line, and has started to do so now that he has the time in between his rehabilitation.

Mike Aitken has always been an inspiration for me, as far as to do what you love in life, no ,matter what it might be , or how realistic it may or may not be to pursue.

So, the next time any of you feel like giving up on life , no matter what the reason may be, a bad accident, a rocky marriage, someone telling you that you cant do something, or whatever it may be that can make you feel to just give up; if you dont have inspirations in your life, please think about these two indivisuals that i have had the honor to come across in my lifetime.

I used to complain and think, why me? Why dont i ever get a break? Why cant ibe where i want to be in life? Now i'm not saying i didnt appreciate my life before this, but I sure did find reasons to complain at times as wel as want to just give up. But ever since these 2 incidents with a friend and a distant relative; it has opened my eyes to so much. And one of those many things are to never give up, no matter what the chip count is nor the cards i have been dealt( and im not just talking poker terms but life in general).

Im not sure if robert and mike even know how big of inspirations they are to me in life, But they are! and I know for the rest of my life on this earth, when im feeling like there is no hope, and when i feel like giving up on life in general, I think about these two great stories of overcoming the improbable. As well as the mindset of these two!

Yes i will feel useless or feel i can't achieve something somewhere down the line but, i will think of these two, and i will change my mindset after remembering thier challenges' that not many if any, ever gave them a chance to get back to where they once were.

So with all that, i know i have never told robert this and if i did i dont recall, but robert , i love you my friend! we havnt always had the same outlook on life and we have disagreed and had little spiffs and argued; but we have always remained friends. And thank you for all the inspiration you have gave me since your accident.

And mike aitken, as i can only recall 4 times i have ever been in the same room with you before. Once at my house when you helped your pop carry a dinner table that he gave my wife, and 3 family reunions; you have been more part of my life as you will ever know. Cause i do get fustrated sometimes when things dont go my way in what im trying to achieve. Then i think wow!, you ride a bike and get paid for this! Ya it takes much skill to do these things but man, you ride a bike and get paid! And to top it off , you get in this terrible accident and it seems you have more spice for life than you ever have had before!! ( as well as Robert!)

So i am sending this blog to both of you and i just want to say thank you to both of you for defining the meaning to me of a chip and a chair! or you may be down but your not out?

And for all who do read this, we can always use inspirations in our life like this and you can never have too much. So if any of you have any inspiration stories like this, please tell me about them in your comments.

Thanks for to all for who took the the time to read this blog, and p.s. my wife is also one of the biggest inspiration of my life , for who else would put up with a yeehaw like me?

With much respect, the real yeehaw of poker, Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw

NEVER SAY QUIT, NEVER SAY I CANT, NEVER SAY IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!