It is yet another day to keep getting better, becoming undone as a podcast for those who dare bravely, risk mightily, and grow relentlessly. Join me Toby Brooks as I invite a new guest, each week to examine how high achievers can transform from falling apart to falling into place. Her Arizona native cricket carpenter, early athletic dreams of a college scholarship came true when she competed and earned her way to the Cal State Fullerton Gymnastics team, where she competed as a D1 athlete. Sadly a knee injury derailed her senior season and cut her career short, but she was able to overcome her loss and graduate with a degree in exercise physiology. Unfortunately it wouldn't be the last time she'd have to find a way to pick up the pieces. Shortly thereafter a chance encounter led to a budding young relationship. That relationship soon led to a wedding, and that wedding led to a vow. However, a devastating car accident that nearly took her life led her and her young marriage to a crossroads. She didn't remember any of it. A serious brain injury had ripped away any memories of her courtship, her wedding, whenever even dating the man who was, she was told, her husband. However, tasked with the steep climbed recovery that saw her have to learn to walk and talk again, it wasn't until later in her recovery that a counselor made the startling connection. While cricket had seen pictures of a girl who looked like her in a wedding dress, and she desperately wanted to believe what those around her had told her, she felt trapped in a relationship that she didn't and couldn't remember. The couple tried dating again, eventually she fell in love all over again, and a ceremonial second wedding was held, tales of their unwavering commitment and a steadfast refusal to turn their backs on their vows soon spring. Their book The Vow was written, eventually climbing to a number one bestseller. Public speaking engagements were booked, and they made their way to almost every major talk show in the country. By 2012, a hit movie by the same name as the book was made based on the events to change their lives. It was the hard fought happy ending to a tragic accident that had forever changed their lives, until one day, the marriage ended. Your cricket tell the rest of her story, sharing how she's overcome adversity, clawed her way back from the brink of physical death, and fought to overcome the emotional pain she's been through in episode 22 restored. This week our guest has a story unlike any other. Frickin Carpenter holds a distinction of being the only person I know who had a movie made about her life, and so she has been on pretty much every media outlet known to man, has had a book written about her, and has had a movie made about her. So we go way back fortunate enough, my wife and I actually lived in your parents' house back in Tucson back in the day, and your good friends with one of my good friends from grad school, Maggie LeCombre. So Maggie, I hope you're listening, shout out to you. Hi, Maggie. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Great to be here. So you're joining us from Peoria, and I love the story, but I love the story before the story, because I've spent two years working with gymnastics, and so that was a huge part of your life. And you're sweet mom. Obviously, it was a gymnastics coach, dad coached all kinds of things baseball primarily. So I always start, start at the beginning wherever that was for you. Well, let's see. I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. My mom started a gym called Sponestermal 6 when I was like six years old, and so I kind of just grew up in the gym. And I liked gymnastics, and it was pretty natural at it. And I did gymnastics for all my growing up and competed at high levels. And from the time I was a little girl, my goal was to get a scholarship for gymnastics for college. That was just my goal. And I achieved that. I went to take House A. Fullerton on a gymhouse of scholarship, and was there for four years, and had a great career. I flew my knee out my senior year, which is kind of a bomber, but you know, you're old by the time you're a senior anyway, slipping around. So that's kind of where my gymnastics and athletics started. Yeah. So a lot of the guests that have preceded you, we've really focused on that. That was the story. Like the athletic career was kind of season one of life. And then that ended. That was a huge part of their identity. And then they went on into other things. For you, that's really just the start of the story. So when gymnastics ends, especially for collegiate gymnasts, it's oftentimes sort of bittersweet. It's not like you can go pro in gymnastics, like a football player or a baseball player. So it's kind of a swan song. And you being injured your senior year, it was even taken a little sooner than that. How was that transition for you from being a collegiate athlete, being an elite gymnast and a collegiate athlete to eventually transitioning out of sport? Well, I think for me, it was, I mean, it was devastating, you know, at the beginning of my senior year, the start of our season to blow my knee out. I at that time had started getting involved in a great church in Southern California. And so for me, I kind of transitioned into that. I still was part of the gymhouse 16, but I was able to finish up my college degree and also really grow in this relationship with Christ that I had come to know. And I kind of shifted my focus from being in the gym all the time to being able to serve others and being involved in like different Bible studies and lead women's groups and staff. So I kind of just took a whole new focus, which was not an athletic one. And you know, after my gymhouse six and after I graduated, still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with this degree that I had, my gymnast's coach connected me with a sportswear company called Jamens Sportswear in Santa Cal. And then I ended up doing that and was successful in sales and had a great time doing that. And that's kind of where my story took an even bigger turn. And so if I recall, you were answering phones and taking orders and saving as a rep for the coaches that will call in. And one particular coach took an interest in you. Right. And I had friends all over the country in different sports and professional sports, division on sports clubs. And it was just a normal day at the office. Good morning, Jamens. This was cricket and this individual call. And apparently we got along well, which I had good buddies on the phone and stuff. But this friendship kind of grew and we continued to talk and we wrote letters. And then I think he like got my home phone number because he wanted to check on order. And you know, this was back in the 90s. So this was before we had cell phones and stuff like that. You know, we didn't have text messaging. We called. And so our friendship grew and I had met him in September of 92. And through that, like I ended up going out to visit him and we both had a love for the Lord and in our relationship just really grew and a year later, September 18, 1993, we got married. Yeah. I've seen pictures of just a fabulous wedding. And we haven't talked in a while. So I'm still not aware. We'll get to that later. But a lavish ceremony. And so you start your life. You've graduated college. You've concluded your athletics career. Your career is on the rise. His is on the rise. Things are going great. Then what happened? So when we got married, I lived in Southern California doing sales again for jamming. And he was the baseball coach at a small division two college in New Mexico in Las Vegas, New Mexico, North of Santa Fe. So once we got married, I moved to the tiny town of Vegas and worked in the fitness center as an ex-laced physiologist. And then the day before Thanksgiving, we were going to go to Phoenix to visit my parents. And we had just gotten married in September. So it was Thanksgiving. And we were in Gallup, New Mexico. I was driving because my husband had gotten sick. So I was the one driving. And right outside of Gallup, I drove into like some dense fog, saw one taillights, swirved of a lap to try to miss this car. I clipped it back into a flatbed semi that was blowing exhaust. And then I was t-boned by a one-ton Chevy truck that was falling as too close and going too fast. So we flipped in the air one and a half times, landed upside down, skidded a hundred feet on the roof of the car. And like the scene was very grim. They had used the jaws of life to get me out. They did not expect me to make it. I thankfully made it to Gallup from Hopeless Hospital. And our life was turned upside down the date before Thanksgiving. So you're in serious medical jeopardy, like you're fighting for your life. And you make a miraculous recovery. And from that, you awaken in a fairy tale story. This is stranger than fiction that you have memory loss, but it's short term. Right. We had a crazy, even from there at the scene, like once I was taken to the hospital, like I flatline twice on the way to University of New Mexico Medical Center. It was on life support for quite a while. But did make a miraculous recovery because people across the globe were actually praying as my brother runs a huge Christian organization at a university campus. And I mean, there's people praying all over. And I did, like you say, made a miraculous recovery. It was like the first time that they really did some questioning with me. And I was so charded in a coma at this time, but they asked me, who's your mom? And I said, Mary and who's your dad? They said, Gus and they said, who's your husband? I said, I'm not Mary. They're like, yeah, you are cricket. Who's your husband? And I said, Todd, who happened to be an old boyfriend from like a couple years back. Sidebar here, because a, they deserve the credit and b, I'm pretty sure they're listening. Gus and Mary Papis, cricket's mom and dad, are two of the kindest, coo-less, most wonderful human beings on planet Earth. We first met after being introduced by my mentor and boss, Maggie LaCombra. Now Maggie and Cricket had been close friends back in their Cal State Fuller Condays of undergrad. And Maggie had eventually gone on to become the head football athletic trainer at the University of Arizona. Gus and Mary were such big U of A fans that they'd bought a house and moved to Tucson. However, they'd been assigned to a two-year mission trip to Farmington, New Mexico with their church. And they'd asked Maggie if she knew of anyone responsible enough, who might be able to take care of their house while they're away. I'm sure Maggie was probably thinking of my wife, Christie, when she suggested that the couple meet with us. And before we knew it, a poor, lowly grad student and his new grad, hardworking wife, were living rent-free in a stranger's new three-bedroom home for the next two years. It was a blessing that has never stopped being significant in our lives. And it was all due to the kindness and generosity of this wonderful couple. Back to Cricket's story, though. We discovered, I lost my short-term memory, so I had ended up actually losing about a year and a half prior to our car accident to four months after when I met David, Mary, and my husband. And that was the memory that was gone for good. Wow. So that retrograde amnesia almost fits your courtship totally. So you don't even recall meeting him, let alone marrying him. I don't recall it. No, meeting, dating, marrying him. No. So when I've talked about it, I mean, I've talked about my story quite a bit and all over the globe. So it's nothing that I have, like, actual memories in my mind. We've kind of pieced some things back together. And of course, my husband has the memory of everything. And I have my prayer journals and stuff that I can look at. But to be quite honest, I've never really gone back in those journals to see what I had lost, because that wasn't going to really get me anywhere. And that's just not how I tried to conquer this, realizing I didn't know this man that I was married to. You continue to make recovery. You go through PT, you go through intense therapy, you have to relearn to walk again, speech deficits, you had a dramatic change from being near death to eventually going home. How long was the time that transpired between the accident and when you actually got to go home? So the car accident was the day before Thanksgiving. I was released from inpatient, the inpatient facility at Barrel's Neurologic Institute in January of 94. And then I was in outpatient rehab for neurological therapy until April 15 of 94. And then they sent me home, the therapist, the neuropsychologist, everyone. They sent me home to live with my quote husband. And I kind of went like along with it, but you have to realize that at this part of my recovery I was, I probably have to like a 10 or 12 year old, because it takes a long time to recover from a traumatic brain injury that was a severe as mine. So I went home to live with my husband, but it wasn't until this is the kind of interesting part. It wasn't until about a year later that we finally went to a counselor because things were hard because my husband was more like a father figure than an actual husband. And he was helping me learn how to live life again. So we went to a counselor and I'll never forget this day. We were talking and the counselor looked at me and he goes, Cricket, I don't think you have any memory of meeting dating or marrying your husband. And I was like, oh my goodness, like that's it. Now I know what you're thinking. It might be easy for a naysayered question how someone could simply lose all memory of their spouse, but it happens. Traumatic brain injuries are unpredictable and they don't ever follow a standard pattern for recovery. Most doubters would wonder how in the world a patient recovering from an injury could be treated for months without anyone realizing that such was the case. However, Cricket's injuries were so severe that early on she likely didn't even have the mental capacities to really fully understand what was going on around her. After all, she was learning to walk and talk again. And much like a child would never question the presence or existence of parents or caregivers, her recovering brain simply accepted what she was being told. However, with time and added recovery, a therapist uncovered the root issue as to why the couple were struggling so much. Cricket did not remember even meeting or dating, let alone marrying the man she'd been told was her husband. It was a moment of shocking clarity that changed the course of her therapy and her relationship immediately. Like, no wonder why this is so hard. So it really wasn't until that day that we realized what our problem was. And what you know what the problem was, and you can try to make a game plan, you know, on how to do this. But life was really rough that first year. But once we discovered all the memory that was gone, our counselor said, why didn't you guys date again and regate to know each other in that way and build new memories since the memories of meeting dating, marrying were gone. And that's what we did. Right. House a real slash terrifying to think that, I mean, you're shuttle to home. You didn't drive. So they just take you to this house. And here you go. Here's this guy that you have no recollection of who is your husband. And in your mind, you're trying to go along with it, but that doesn't compute. That doesn't register. Right. And during that time, you're also still healing. So neurologically, you're making progress and sorting through these emotions. What was that like? Um, it was very challenging. And I mean, looking back on it now, I see it so differently. But at the time, like, because neurologically, I was so messed up, I wasn't able to say, I don't know who you are. I mean, I kind of like my parents sent me home to live with this guy. I mean, and because they thought I knew who I was, or who he was, that therapist thought I knew who he was. But I couldn't say, I don't know who you are. And so I mean, I saw these pictures of us and I looked like the girl in the wedding dress. And I'm like, I have these wedding rings on my finger. I mean, I, I just kind of went along with it and kind of, I don't know, tried to play this part that I was told that I was. So once, you know, the year after when we figured out what was going on and we kind of took a different perspective on things, that helped a lot. But yes, that's a trauma to the brain where you just are unable to really say and verbalize what you're experiencing. Right. And that had to be frightening to be in this situation. And also at the same time, struggling for words, struggling to string your thoughts together to peace. Right. It was frightening. It didn't make sense. But I, I just kind of went with it. I mean, I watched this video of this girl who looks exactly like me saying, I vow and good times and bad thickness and health don't get those parts. So I'm like, okay, I mean, I mean, I said those words. So I was like, okay, that's what I have to do. You know, right. It was crazy. Yeah. So it breaks your moment. Your counselor recognizes this reality. Right. And you and your spouse decide the relationship is strained. Obviously, it would be anyone in your circumstance would probably resist and resent. And it wouldn't go well if someone just magically told me that someone I had never met was my spouse. Right. So the decision was made to part for a time. Is that correct? Well, no, that should have been the decision. But no, I stayed living in Las Vegas, New Mexico. And we, we dated, but I mean, we were still living together because we were married. But we liked to date nights and, and my husband tried to do everything he could to help me remember and take me back places and help me maybe remember to jar some memory, but it didn't because of the retrograde amnesia that I had. But you know, I kind of, it was all how I looked at it. Like, I'm like, well, we were building new memories and I figured I liked them before. I'll get to know them again. And that was just my happy, go lucky kind of little cricket attitude. And that's what I did. And it was around that time. Like we were talking to people. Like just our friends and we are in a small town. And I think we spoke at a couple of churches in our little town about our story and how we were doing this. People were interested in how coach Carpenter and his wife were doing because of the small town we were in. And I remember people would be so encouraged that we stayed together and that we stayed married. And I was like, well, of course we are. You know, I mean, I made a vow. And I just remember people were really encouraged. So when Dan, like, all right, Lord, if you want to do something with them, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say something with the story. I just pray that something happens. And it was a few days after that, that things broke open, which allowed our story to be shared actually across the world. I can remember clearly sitting at your parents dining room table. And it was a big deal. Like they pulled the photos out. They weren't going to tell us this story until they got to know us a little bit. And this was before there had been a book before there had been a movie. They said, let's tell you about our daughter and her story. And they pull out wedding photos and they pull out this carnage of an accident. You know, the car afterwards is not even recognizable pictures of you and rehab. And they mentioned the story how you had essentially had the memories of your courtship wiped away, had struggled through the marriage. And basically you had a courtship part two, which is part one to you, part two to your spouse. Do you have clear memories of that second courtship or were you still healing at that time? I mean, I was still healing so like, no, I wouldn't be able to tell you like dates we went on and how we did that. But there's a little bit that yes, that I do remember. And then I of course have to plan a second wedding. And it was a very small ceremony that we did in the mountains of New Mexico, in this little cabin, which actually had no electricity. And the people that were at the second wedding were people that were instrumental in saving our lives and my rehab and saving my life. So it was very small, but I got to have a memory of my dad walking me down the aisle. And a member that I actually did marry this guy, like I remember that I married him. And that is that was when our story kind of hit the media waves. And so that was covered quite a bit. But yes, so I was able to have a wedding memory. And it's interesting because we've been asked this question, which wedding means more to you the first or the second. And I always answer with the first, even though I have no memory of it, but that's why I kept my vows because of what I said in our first wedding. And for my husband, the second wedding had more meeting, but he was able to see how far we had come. And then I went from near death. I mean, they gave her my wedding ring and watch and said, we're sorry, there's nothing we can do. But they chose to air back me, but then the Lord really took over. But so that's let the second wedding meant so much to him because he saw a miracle. Yeah. Well, cricket, I can tell you, I'm overcome with conviction as you're talking because I'm thinking about absent-minded things that I forgot. I told my wife and I'm like, well, I don't remember saying that. So I'm off the hook, you're taking full responsibility for a wedding. You have no recollection for that is a tribute to your character, for sure. Well, and I remember sitting in my little apartment in Las Vegas, New Mexico watching this video and being like, I mean, I settled out like, like, I have to stay true to that. I'll never forget that. And my mind was just so confused on everything. I'm like, well, I mean, that's me and the picture saying those words. So that's what I did. So that's kind of the journey I set myself to do is stay true to that commitment. Sure. So the story starts to gain traction in the mainstream media. You start working and reaching out to find someone who's going to write the story in book form first. And if I recall, I believe when we met, the book was out and there were screenplay after screenplay where Holly would wanted to tell this story, but they wanted to tell it on their own terms. I guess first tell me about the book process and what that was like for you personally. So our story broke around. I mean, it kind of started hitting the media in 96 when we redid our wedding. That's really when it took off really big. And we had like publishing companies that wanted to do our story and movie production companies that wanted to produce the movie. And we had done talk show after talk show starting in 96. We had pretty much done them all. Like it was crazy. And so we were able to tell our story the way we wanted. When it came down to the book, we signed a broadband home and we actually released our first book of the vow in 2000. And it was geared to a Christian audience. And we wrote the book along with a ghost writer. And it was a great book. So that happened in 2000. And in 96 when we signed our book deal, we also signed our movie deal with I believe it was was I don't I don't remember it was a spyglass because it switched hands so many times on who it was actually going to be produced by. I think it ended up in spy glasses hands. But we signed our movie deal in 96 and the movie got made in 2012. Yeah. And as you said, there was script after script. We kept rejecting the scripts for the movie. And then by the last script, they're like, well, we're going to go with this one. So we were we have the option to keep our name attached to it or taking it off. And we were advised by some pretty big Christian leaders to keep your name on it. And then people will pick up your book who would normally not pick up the book. And so we did re release our book along with the movie in 2012. I can't say for anyone who has seen the movie, I can attest personally that your mom and dad are the sweetest human beings on earth. And I would love to hang out with him at any time. The characterization in the movie, not quite a slaughtering. Right. And the movie is very Hollywood. And I think that that happened because in 96 when we signed our movie deal and we met with the big producer and we met with the big wigs and they wanted our story told us the truth. I mean, that was in 96. And then the movie releases in 2012. That's a lot of years. The world changed quite a bit, I think, in that time. And so Hollywood did their thing. There's a few little, you know, there's some truths in that. But it's more of the idea. And if you look at the movie, it says based on true events, not based on a true story. And so the events of the movie are true. My parents have been married for over 60 years and they were not portrayed correctly at all in the movie. But that's Hollywood. And the book is the real story because we wrote it. Right. A very young Channing Tatum plays the role of your husband and also a very young Rachel McCatum's. So I'm guessing you had time to spend with each of them as they prepped for the movie. We really didn't prepped like we didn't really prepped with them. They apparently, I think you use because we had so many interviews by that time that we had done over the years. And so I think they watched a lot of that. Now they did portray us pretty perfectly on screen. They did. They nailed it. There's no doubt. We don't have to be there for the filming of the wedding scene that was in this big museum, which is not where we got married, but that's fine. And so we were there with them on set that day, which was super cool and they are the sweetest kind of people. So that was super fun. Well, I can say without question, if Channing Tatum portrayed me in a movie, I would use him as my profile picture on all my social media. He would just be my avatar from then on. Yes, I think my husband was thrilled that Channing Tatum was representing him. And Rachel is amazing and beautiful. So I mean, I was honored that she portrayed me in the movie. Yeah, for sure. So storybook ending, Hollywood movie made about you books in publication. But one day this romance of the century is in jeopardy. Right. So you've been taking you from when the movie was released and our book was released in 2000. And we had a son and daughter that we were raising. Like the summer of 2018 was not the summer that I had expected or I had ever dreamt of. You know, marriages have good times and bad ups and downs. And we're, we were no exception to that. I mean, we have struggles just like everybody else. But I had gone on like a girl's vacation with my daughter, my niece and my mom to Hawaii. And we went on this great vacation, just the girls. And I just think something was not right back at home. And I couldn't really figure it out. But and I was we're housing some baseball players in our house and it was a normal Sunday in June. And I took my baseball players to church and I'll never forget this Sunday. I just was down before the Lord and just prayed Lord. I know something crazy is going on. Whatever it is, I pray that you would show me and and help me with whatever is going on. And about a few hours later, I found out that my husband was having an affair. So my husband of, you know, 24 years at the time was having an affair. And yeah, my life fell apart because I mean, I was the vow, you know, the female in the vow. I was in it till death to a part, good times and bad times. I was committed fully. And you know, as you can imagine, the first place I went was to my parents house. And it was very hard. I remember being on the phone with my husband at the time and I, you know, I asked him, are you having an affair? And yes, was the answer. And from that time, yeah, my life fell apart. I mean, I didn't even know how it's going to get out of bed in the morning. You know, and this was once and months of dealing with this. Like how am I going to ever face people? It was very difficult in a small town. My kids were in high school, my son was a senior in high school. I worked at my son's high school. It was rough. It is almost inconceivable that after being through so much, finding her way back from near death, working relentlessly to recover both physically and emotionally, cricket's marriage, once the stuff of legend celebrated on TV, the movies and books in seminars was over. And all the days and weeks that followed were some of the hardest of her life. Eventually, through prayer and with time, she found healing. Even a healing beyond what she'd experienced following her accident. But after about a couple months, you know, and I'm very thankful that there was a lot of people lifting up in prayer. And you know, there's different aspects of that time. But the ultimate thing that had to happen was we were going to divorce. And that's what happened. And as interesting as it is now with my head injury, prior to me finding out this devastating news in, you know, June of 2018, prior to that, I always had a real hard time with my emotions because of the damage that they had to my brain. And I was able to cry and I was able to really express things. But once this traumatic event happened, I now able to, like I have normal emotions now, I think aspects during my 25 years of recovery, I was always like wanting to be the old cricket again. And I can say, even my girlfriend, so I grew up, who I went to college with in California, I can say like the old cricket is back. So you know, when something that you think is, it is the most devastating thing. And it took, you know, minutes and hours and days and months to recover. But I can see how the Lord turned it to good. And it was a huge, I mean, I have to look at it as a blessing. And, you know, I had 25 years of my life raising my children and in a marriage and trying to serve the Lord in that. But, you know, I have 25 more years that I can go on and start like my another new beginning. Yeah. What do you days look like today? So my days today look like, well, let's see, I have been a substitute teacher for this is my 16th year. Because to be quite honest, it was something that I could do when my kids were in school. And I had summers off. I had vacations off. I could take a day off if I needed to and with my head injury, I wasn't really able to work full time because head injuries are very exhausting. You know, you sleep a ton of hours at first and then you still need a lot of hours. And to the day I still need a lot of hours of sleep. So I still, when I moved to Peoria, Arizona, I started substitute teaching. So I've been at the same school for four years. So that's my life here. And I'm involved in a wonderful church. Life is good. And a great Bible study. I just kind of went off and kind of reconnected with some of my old teammates who I grew up with. But I'm happy I'm at peace and I'm content. And I know the Lord has a plan. Yeah. So when kind of the other half of this story was told when it was released, I distinctly remember a fairly short Facebook post that you made kind of announcing this. What was the response? I mean, the media sought you out for this story and then this happens. Right. I was advised to make a post. And so I did that because even though our story like really hit really huge in 96 and then the movie was in 2012, we still had continued to do speaking engagements. And I was always very honest in my talks. Like it's hard. Good times about thickness and health. And I mean, I was committed and you know, it wasn't always easy. And I was very real about that whenever I spoke publicly. So I did a public statement and then I chose to do one show to kind of release it media-wise. And I chose to do inside addition because that was the show that initially broke our story. And so I used inside addition to release what had happened to the vow. And it was with Megan Alexander who is a wonderful Christian woman and we still are friends. And so that's kind of I chose to do that. And that's all that I did. Yeah. Well, between successful gymnasts and a collegiate career, this remarkable story and now a painful divorce. If you go back in time and speak to that little 12 year old and a leotard and sit her down and say, cricket, here's what you have ahead. Here's some advice for the journey. What would you tell her? I mean, I'm fortunate that I was raised by such great parents. And I think even at back then, like I would probably tell myself, you know, even in this gymnast's journey that you're doing that you persevere, that you go to the gym every day and you work through all kinds of pain. But you come out either successful because you want a state championship or not. But remember that you can push through and achieve things even when it looks like you can't and that if you keep going day after day, that you'll get through it and things will be good. And like I went after that goal of wanting to be a college gymnast and I accomplished that. And even now I wanted the goal to be able to be like a good mom again to my children and not be falling apart, probably like I was the first few months after my life flipped upside down. And I mean, I think like telling like little kids like go after your goals and stay true to yourself. And I think sometimes when you're an adult, like when you know that things are right or wrong or whatever, I think you really need to listen to that and not just ignore it at times. I believe that's always spirit kind of telling you, but I would say listen to those voices that keep telling you stuff, but fix your eyes on a goal and keep on going. And for me, my faith is what brings me through. And I'm so thankful how far like I look back now and it's been four years and it's just it's incredible how far the Lord has brought me and just how much peace I have in my heart now. Well, I thought I had one left, but I love that you circle. You keep circling back to your face because it's been so critical to your recovery, to your healing. What is your salvation? So what's your testimony? Interesting. When I was a little girl, like we would kind of go to church here and there, you know, and then we were really good friends with the pastor and his wife. And so we went to the press hearing church here and the methodist church here in Arizona, but we would go here and there. But I as a kid was like always jealous of those kids like up to like Sunday school and all that. Like that was just me. And when I was little, I always had a dear diary, like a dear God diary, like I've been journaling since I was a little kid as funny as it is. So that was kind of like growing up. But then when I was 14 years old, I remember I was in my brother's room and I was kind of snooping around looking for stuff and I ran across this little booklet called The Four Spiritual Laws and I read through this little booklet and I did, I asked Jesus into my heart to forgive me on my sins and give me eternal life and to make me the person He wanted me to be. But what happened is I was never followed up by anybody so I didn't really know what I had done. So it's interesting as it is. I went to Southern California and went to this big church after a couple years of college and like I'm like, I can't. I don't relate with all these people. So I started going to church to this college group and I'll never forget this one Sunday. The pastor was talking and talking about having a relationship with Christ in your Christian and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's what I am. I'm a Christian. That's what I did when I was 14. So it was then, it was about 1920 that I realized what I had done when I was 14. And so I started my walk with the Lord really for the first time. That's great. Well, the theme of the show is sometimes things have to fall apart before they can fall in place. And I think that fits your story pretty fittingly. What for you remains undone? I was thinking about that question because I had a feeling you're going to ask it. I don't really feel that stuff is so undone. I mean, I kind of, I think maybe undone what the Lord has planned for me would be maybe what's undone. And it's kind of what I'm not aware of because I really just take every day and I'm thankful for my job. I love hanging out with high school kids and try to be a positive example like in their lives and be encouraging to them. Really, for me, I just walk with the Lord and what's undone is whatever the Lord has in store for me. And I'm kind of excited for that whether he uses me with my story and continues the story that he's given me or maybe not. I don't know. I'm excited to see what he has, what he's going to do with me. Well, cricket, it's been a pleasure to reconnect. I've said it in other episodes. If no one listens, I still love the fact that I'm now doing this because it's given me an excuse to reconnect with fantastic people from my past and some other people I don't know. So we're both, you and I are both hoping Maggie's listening right now. So shout out to Magarita La Comda. Well, she was my athletic trainer, like the student trainer when I was a gymnast at Cal State Floreton and she was the best. Yeah, he still is. Well, cricket, thank you so much for your time and we sincerely appreciate it. Thank you so much. This cricket's life always gone according to plan. No, not even close. After overcoming a career ending injury that cut her gymnastics career short, she found recovery and career and relationships and an ever deepening faith. However, a tragic accident that nearly took her life through a curveball, retrograde amnesia, that nearly cost her her marriage. At the time and commitment, what sprouted instead was a near fairy tale romance and the happily ever after that every little girl dreams of, right? Sadly, also no. While she readily acknowledges that so much of her life unfolded in a way she wouldn't have chosen, she's not bitter or angry. She's thankful. She has gratitude for the fact that in her words, the Lord is not done with her youth. Today cricket is strong, she's healing. And she understands better than most, but sometimes it all has to come apart before it can all come together. Becoming Undone is a nitro-hyde creative production, written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, please contact me at undonepodcast.com, or you can also sign up for a mailing list to be notified of new episode drops and exclusive team undone benefits. Becoming Undone can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts. Till next time everybody, keep kidding better.