Becky Piper | Overcoming a Home Invasion that was a Death Sentence

Becky Piper was living abroad with her Navy husband when a violent home invasion left her in a coma and partially paralyzed. After learning to re-walk, re-talk, and re-live, Becky is now back to participating in long distance events and helping others thrive in the face of their own challenges!

This podcast is in partnership with the Remember to Live Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization that sends Moms facing late-stage breast cancer on a family-vacation to create unforgettable memories.. Because sometimes remembering to live means taking the trip, making the memory, and spending precious time with those you love most. To learn more or support a family, visit us at remembertolivefoundation.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

I'm Cameron Tusky and welcome to the Memento Vivere Project. The podcast that reminds you, life is not something to survive, it's something to truly live. Here, we sit down with dream chasers, adventurers, entrepreneurs, and everyday people doing extraordinary things to uncover what it takes to leave comfort behind, overcome challenges, pursue what matters most, and remember to live. Whether you're searching for inspiration, courage, or a reminder to start living more intentionally, you're in the right place. This is the Memento Vivere Project. The Memento Vivere Project knows that life is a project and everyone is at a different point along their journey. Today we're talking with Becky Piper about her journey and what a story she has to remind us all how quickly life can really change, but it's how we respond to something that happens that makes the biggest difference. Becky is a Navy wife who was with her husband Sam while stationed in Guam when the unthinkable happened. Her home was invaded by three men one night when she was home alone. She was severely beaten and left for dead with a severe traumatic brain injury. She was in a coma for three days and spent the next year of her life learning to walk, talk, and function again. Today, almost 13 years later, she lives in the wilds of the Colorado Rockies with her husband, who's been by her side through the worst of times. And she just told me that she's moving to Wyoming in a week, so she's cramming this in before she has to pack up her house. So I appreciate her spending the time here. So while she's in Colorado or eventually Wyoming, she spends her time coaching endurance athletes and paraathletes alike in swim, bike, and run at her business progression endurance training. And when she isn't training herself, she loves to bake sourdough, learn to snowboard, and walk her dog Ralphie. Becky, thank you for being the first guest on the Memento Vivere project.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Oh, I'm honored to be the first guest. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Well, you have you have a pretty fascinating story. Um so before we before we jump into the the depth of that story, uh give us a little bit of a background on what brought you to Guam. Uh obviously you're married to a military man, but what what what brought you over there?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

So uh after our first duty station, which was in San Diego, uh Sam was able to choose three stations that he would want to be stationed at. There's no guarantee you're gonna get any of them. Um so she chose Hawaii, Washington State, and Guam. Um, and nobody really wants to go to Guam except us because we're weird. So the Navy was like, you want to go to Guam? Okay, you can go to Guam. Um so we packed up our life, and Sam wa Sam went over to Virginia to learn how to do the stuff he was gonna do on a boat. I don't know. Um, and then we headed out to Guam. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

And while you were in Guam, it sounded like you were already living life to the fullest. You were going on these runs, you were hiking Guam, you were you were doing all of the amazing things that that the beauty of Guam has to offer. So what what was life like in in Guam when you first got there? And uh I'm sure there's some sort of a cultural acclamation to it also. What was what was moving to Guam like for you?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Um, well, we went from the dryer-ish San Diego temperate climate to living five degrees below the equator. So it was really hot, and it had a rainy season and a dry season, and it rained in both. Um so we it was basically a jungle. Um, so it was it was so much fun and so much dirt everywhere. Um I I got into triathlons out there um because uh a Navy guy that I knew said that he could do uh Xterra, which is an extreme off-road triathlon, uh better than me because I'm a girl, and I was like, two questions. What makes you think you can do it better? Because I'm girl, and what is a triathlon? So I I you know am very stubborn and spiteful, so I had to train for that. I ended up making the world champions, championships of Xterra. Um, and I was just about ready to start training for that. Um, In Guam.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

And you made that championship and you didn't even know what a triathlon was shortly before that, for the most part.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Like six months before.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

I that that's an impressive uh that's impressive.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

It was yeah, I was very stubborn.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yeah, so you were you were doing all of these things, and then your life changed. Yeah. In a drastic way.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

So in an instant.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

In an instant. So so tell tell us about that instant and and what happened that uh fateful night.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Well, it was it was just a normal night, actually. It was April 19th, and on the date we're recording this, April 15th, um, so i it's it's only four days before the 13-year anniversary of this happening. Um, so April 19th, it was just a night like any others. Um, we had a couple roommates in Guam because we had a big house and there's only two of us, so why not have roommates? And they were fun. Um, they went out to the bar. Um, Sam was working late, uh, and I was home alone watching a movie, and uh there was a sudden knock on the door. So being the naive, friendly person I am, I went and answered the door and was like, oh, how can I help you? What do you need? Um, and there were three very large, very angry men there. Um, they pushed their way in. Uh they were looking for drugs and money. We had Tylenol and $80 on the fridge. So yeah, that was about it.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

What a score.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Yeah, yeah. Um, it turned th they wanted to get the house down the street, but they didn't. They got the wrong house. Um, so they were mad, I'm assuming, that they couldn't find the drugs and money that we didn't have. Um, and they severely beat me and pistol whipped me um over the head and I collapsed and I I don't even remember this. That's what the police and Sam and everyone told me. Um and I was I was basically gone. I basically when they hit me, they broke a blood vessel in my brain, and when blood or when when your brain bleeds, any area of the brain that blood touches dies. So there is a huge chunk of my brain that's now dead. But um, yeah. Um I was laying on the floor when my husband and roommates both came home within like a minute of each other. Ironically, they found me, uh, collapsed on the floor, almost dead. Uh the doctor said I had about an hour and a half to live at that point because my throat was closing up. There was, you know, duct tape across my mouth, my hands were duct taped, everything. They, of course, freaked out. Um, one of my roommates ran through the house with a decorative Japanese sword that we have. Um, we still have that sword, and we'll never get rid of it because that is it's an honor to him. I mean, he was he was ready to go. Sam called 911, they got me to the hospital in time, they induced a three-day coma so my brain swelling could go down. They were ready to do brain surgery. Luckily, they didn't have to. Um, and I woke up from that brain injury and I was half paralyzed on the right side. And yeah, then we start the recovery.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

And I'm sure a recovery journey like no other, trying to at how old were you, give or take 30? Some 20, late 20s?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

I think 27.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Okay, so 27 years old, you need to relearn how to talk, how to walk, how to eat again. Uh, I I actually saw an interview that Sam did with uh some endurance endurance video company uh next up, I believe. And he was in in some sort of a dark humor kind of way talking about how you came out of that coma trying to communicate, and he's not understanding you, and then somehow you clearly said, Well, try harder.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

And that was the moment Sam knew it was gonna be okay.

unknown 9:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

So you say angrily at him, try harder.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

So you come out of this this coma. Do you remember coming out of that? And and what were some of your first thoughts where you can't people aren't understanding what you're trying to say. You can't move part of your body, you can't get up and and walk. What what were you laying there thinking?

SPEAKER_01 10:13

I was thinking, well, what do you mean I can't walk? I have a 50-mile race to do in a week. Come on, we gotta go. I have to run. I have to use both legs.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

And I'm sure it was that uh stubborn mindset that really propelled you to give everything you possibly have to to recovery because when you came out, I'm sure those doctors said you're never gonna walk again.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Oh, they did. They said I wouldn't walk, I probably wouldn't talk, I would be at wheelchair in a wheelchair for my entire life. I've since found out that in a wheelchair doesn't really mean in a wheelchair. There is so much that wheelchair people are able to do. But I'm not in a wheelchair. I can walk just fine. Well, not just fine, I walk a little slower in a little hip hike here, but you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

You're walking.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

So how how long after you woke up? When did you take your first unassisted step after that?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Ooh, unassisted, I don't know. It was I was still mostly leaning on people. I know I could I could take unassisted steps um about a month and a half later. Um, I remember the first time I took assisted steps. There is video of it. Um I talk really quietly. I am not really able to walk, to move my leg on the right side. I have a physical therapist there kicking my right leg along so I could get the movement. Um and I walked like twenty feet and what how long after that?

SPEAKER_00 12:04

I after you woke up, was that?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Two weeks, maybe three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

That that seems to me to be wildly impressive after being told you're not gonna do these things ever.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, I was really stubborn.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

I also learned to tie my shoes one-handed before then because the only person that was able or was allowed to tie my shoes was Sam. And Sam was like, you can do this. You can do this on your own. And I'm like, fine, I'm going to learn to tie my shoes one-handed.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

In order to be stubborn that stubborn, I'm sure you also needed to keep some sort of a positive outlook. So, like, how did you deal with so much frustration and and probably sadness and devastation and some thoughts, I'm sure, of like, why me? But in order to keep going, you still needed to have some positivity and and and good stubbornness. So, how did you kind of keep that going?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Um, I really don't know. Um, I know I hit times that I was really sad, really depressed. I still hit times that I'm really sad and really depressed. Um I still have anxiety. I still have my nightmares, PTSD. Um, and I had all that then. But I just I went through minute by minute and I was like, okay, small victories. I took a step, that's great. That's victory, I get a cookie. And then on the next day I did another two steps. That's great. Now I get coffee. Um yeah, so it was it was really just minute by minute, day by day, look for the small victories.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

And during your entire recovery, are you still living in Guam or did you come back stateside?

SPEAKER_01 14:01

No, I uh ten days after I got my injury in Guam, I was Medevact on a military plane back to San Diego. Um I had to make four well it took it it four locations, um, because they refused to Medevac me all in one shot. Um they flew me flew me to Japan, and then from Japan they flew me to Hawaii and I'm still bitter that I couldn't see anything in Hawaii that time because I I love Hawaii. Um and then they flew me to San Diego. Um and then I was in San Diego Naval Hospital for a week, two weeks um before I was transferred over to Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, um, where I started super intensive brain injury um day treatment after I finished inpatient there.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

So even just getting to your therapy was one heck of a journey.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Uh so so you are doing physical therapy, you are relearning to to talk, relearning to do everything, tie your shoes one-handed, uh, but then eventually you walk, you eventually run, and then you complete a 70.3 Iron Man in Colorado. So I'm not sure if that's like the epitome of stubbornness, or how do you even get there from where you were on April 19th, 13 years ago, to running a an Iron Man?

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Um, day by day, step by step, um, going through the motions. Um when I first began swimming again, I couldn't I couldn't even get my right arm to get out of the water. Um, it took a lot of retraining the brain to be able to lift my shoulder. And now I can totally lift my shoulder. I just can't move the hand. You know, but who really needs the hand for swimming?

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Meh. Um and biking was the same way. Um I actually was in um physical therapy, and my physical therapist realized I was going to bike no matter what, and she wanted me to do it safely, so my physical therapist got me out on my mom bike around in the grass outside the hospital, so she knew that I could do it safely.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

That's that's a fair and caring doctor. You mentioned that you needed to retrain your brain how to lift your arm. So it wasn't even just obviously you had, you know, brain injury from from what happened, but it's not just that your arm wasn't working, it was that your brain didn't know how to make your arm work. So, how do you retrain your brain to do that?

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Kind of like a baby, right after they're born, they're learning their movements and their coordination and how how their brain is going to make their body work. Um, that's what I had to do. I was basically a baby again. Um I I had to figure out how to remake my arm work. Remake my arm work. That's not what I wanted to say. How I wanted to rebuild those those neural pathways. And I honestly don't know how how I rebuilt. Um I just know that here was the normal pathway, and then there was blockage, so I had to go around. And I had to build that.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

And I just built that by doing it over and over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

And then you were given a brace for your your foot to help that, and then you found an even better brace than what they had originally given you. Is that accurate?

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Yeah, I can actually show you. Because I have my boots right here, because I was debating if I'm gonna wear my boots or tennis shoes today. This is my brace. I can actually take it out. Hopefully, I can get it out of the boot. Let me tell you, it took a while to get it into the boot the first time.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Those cowboy boots are gonna be perfect for uh fitting right into Wyoming.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Uh no. There you go. That's my brace. Um, it's called an Allard Blue Rocker. It's uh it's one that Paralympians and non-Paralympians like me wear. Um yeah, and it just it helps me lift my foot.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

That is some crazy technology to to make all that happen.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah, it is super lightweight. My old plastic brace that I used to have, it was so heavy and clunky and annoying, um, and I couldn't run in it because it pulled my leg down all the time. Um, and I still like I don't have flight phase off my right leg, but I can hobble along with the rest of them.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Sometimes that's all you need to do.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

You you have all of the the tools. You have your body, your mind have been retrained to be able to do basic functions to do beyond basic functions, and then you eventually get to the starting line of the Iron Man in Boulder. What was going through your mind before before that race started? You're standing there, and I'm sure you're reflecting on the journey that you just went through that got you back here. So what what did that even feel like standing there knowing that you might not have ever been able to do that again, but here you are doing something most people have never even tried to do.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Um that's that's really what I like to do is things that most people don't expect. Um and people would never think that I would do. Um and people say that I can't do. I thought of at that moment I was thinking of all the people that said I couldn't do this. Um that first guy in Guam that said I wasn't or I couldn't be as fast as him in a triathlon because I was a woman. And then I thought of my neurologist who said I was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. And all the people I've seen, all the people I've heard that have said, oh I'm sorry you can't do that. And I was like, funny story. I can't do it. I can do it all slow, but I can.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Absolutely. What was what was your most challenging part of that Iron Man?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

That race. Um I'm gonna say probably the run because it was just because it was so long that I was really really exhausted and really breaking down and really uh struggling to maintain good form so I wouldn't be Hurting the next day. Well, it was gonna be hurting, but it was just gonna be my muscles hurting, not my hip like screaming at me. Um so I really, really had to focus during the run. During really the second half of the run. But luckily running is exactly like the my favorite part of a triathlon. So if I have to work through that, that's I'm willing to do that.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

I've never ran a half marathon even, let alone an Iron Man or any sort of triathlon for that matter. But what I've heard is your body can usually do it. It's usually your mind that you have to overcome. But you just overcame so much mentally and physically leading up to that event. So was there anything that I mean you was was there a mental game that you still had to play, or were you like, nope, I've I've overcome literally death right now to be here, so this is exactly where I need to be.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Yeah, really the mental game was was easy for me. Um because, yeah, exactly. I had overcome death, I'd I'd done the work. Now I was just gonna go get a prize medal.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

You have obviously have have accomplished and completed many different races and events and triathlons, uh accepting that that medal at the at the end of that uh what what eight, nine hour event. I'm sure that would be one of your proudest accomplishments, is that fair to say, or describe that for me.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

That's gotta be like one of my absolute proudest accomplishments in my life. Um that I went through that long and that much of a trial that that people can relate to. And then I did that and came through.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

And now you are helping other people get to some of their proudest moments finishing and accomplishing different events. So you've gone through hell, you have overcome it, you are are thriving in spite of it or despite it. Uh talk about how you're helping other people along their own journeys in in their own ways for that.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Um, well, I think the biggest people I help are not necessarily people that I coach. They're more so people that hear my story and they think, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I feel so bad for you. And I'm like, everyone, or they say, I know my life has such a sucky thing, but oh, I could never do that. And I'm like, everybody has their trials, everybody has their challenges. Just because I went through hell does not mean I could go through things that you are going through. Um I would pretty much end up a blob on the floor, crying in a puddle. We all have different strengths.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

That's that's very true. And uh yeah, everyone, everyone obviously has overcome their own worst moments, and everyone's worst moments look different than anyone else's worst moments. So I think there's still uh there's still some inspiration and motivation watching other people go through what you think are worse than what you've gone through, uh, and and maybe that's just the the spark that someone needs to to keep on going. But you also do coach people and literally help help them get to whatever they want it to be. So talk about what what does your coaching look like and and what do you do for people?

SPEAKER_01 25:58

My coaching is like it's all virtual. I have a virtual plant platform, it's called Final Surge. Um, and I am able to figure out and coach people through their trials and through their what's hanging them up. Um, for example, I have a guy who runs um long long distance. I think his goal is like a 24-hour run. I have not taken that on yet. I'm not saying I never will, but I can't do it now. And figuring out what he is doing that is hurting him and then working it through, working the problem, um, coming through so he's running unpainfully. Unpainfully? Sure, we're gonna say that's a word.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Sometimes the best thing is we can make up words that work.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, also besides the brain well, with the brain injury, I have expressive aphasia from it, um, which basically means my brain can't always figure out the right words if you can't tell. Um so sometimes we get some funny words. Um but yeah. Um coaching individuals is very, very fulfilling uh for me and for them. Um and really we're just coaching individuals to meet their goals, whatever they may be. I prefer endurance.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Obviously, every person has their own need to accomplish their goals, and every situation requires different different things, but if you were to Is there is there something that you find yourself saying to the majority of people, or how do you get someone over some sort of a hurdle that might be holding them up? Is there some advice that you would be able to give to the general population for that?

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Yeah, um, if they're facing a hurdle that they can't get over, I'm like, let's find a way around. You don't have to go over this hurdle in the one way you're thinking. We can we can figure it out, we can make adaptions, we can change your path. Your path may change, but their goal's the same.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Paths definitely do change, and uh you obviously you know never saw your life unfolding the way that it has. But what do you think what do you think nine-year-old Becky would would say about Becky today?

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Oh my goodness, you're so old. You're like the cryptkeeper. Um like knowing what I went through at nine years old, I would probably be scared. Honestly, I would I would be terrified of what I had to go through. But because I didn't know what I was going through in my future self, um, and I just had to take it as it came. I made it.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

What did nine-year-old Becky want to be when she grew up?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Ooh, I'm a marine biologist.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Because I like dolphins.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Dolphins are pretty awesome. And you're you're swimming like dolphin now.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

So it's true.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

A very, very, you know, clumsy dolphin, but a dolphin in fact.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Something that I love is uh our bucket lists. Uh maybe I should rebrand that to like uh Memento Vivere list or something like that. Uh but did you know that you have helped me check off a bucket list item of my own?

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Oh I have. Which one? I uh see a bucket list on something.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

I I haven't officially checked it off because I don't know if it accounts, so maybe we should figure this out now. But on my bucket list I have Crash a Wedding. I was not invited to your wedding, but I crashed your wedding, but I knew you too. So I don't know if that counts because it wasn't a complete stranger's wedding, but I showed up at your wedding uninvited and had a great time.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Counts because I knew you guys were showing up to my wedding. I specifically did not technically send you an invitation because then you could be wedding crashers.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

There we go. So checked checked it off a while ago. Appreciate you. Do you have a bucket list or what are some of your your next goals that you you want to accomplish?

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Um, I've never actually physically written down my bucket list, and I should. I should. I just haven't because I have to write with my left hand now and it's annoying. Um, but I can do it. Um my next goals are I'd like to run an ultra marathon half paralyzed, because I did it full and able-bodied, and now I would like to do it with half my body dragging along.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

What is the difference of an ultra marathon?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Anything greater than a marathon.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

The shortest one is a 50k, technically. But uh ultra marathon, technically, anything greater than a marathon. So I'll do a 50k, because I'm not doing a 50 miler. Um, but other than that, we have I w I know my legacy is pretty strong, but I want to pass it on to somebody else, whether that be, you know, a foster, um, an adoption, uh, anyone, anyone. A niece, nephew, um, you know, my kid, what whatever. Whatever I'd like to pass it along and let them know that life is hard, but I can make it through. Or life is tough, but so am I.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

I love that. Like, and that that that can fit for most people that have overcome anything. And everyone's overcome something, so what a life motto. Did I uh read somewhere that you you had a quote that said that you want to get back and run a triathlon or a marathon or some sort of an event back in Guam?

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Oh, I did that. I ran a five or a 5K in Guam.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Back in Guam. How did that work?

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Well, I walked it. It hurt.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

But you did it.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

Because at the time I was I was testing out a um like an ESTEM device that made my muscles, you know, lift my foot. Um I sh shouldn't deal with electricity that closely. Yeah, I don't like it. And that's just me. Me and my body don't mix well with electricity. Um so so that one kinda hurt. But yeah, I I did a 5k back in Guam specifically so I could say that I'd done a race in Guam both before and after.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

And had that was that your first time back in Guam?

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah, I was back for the guys' trials.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Yeah, they got convicted.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

So you saw a conviction and then you also ran another completed an event there. That's that's one heck of a trip.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Did that bring Did that bring some sort of closure to you, or how did how did that all feel? The the conviction and the event?

SPEAKER_01 34:05

I don't think it brought closure to me because at that point my life was so different that I only just well recently, like in the last five years, started to understand that I did in fact need closure and it started to have closure. Um and reflect reflecting back on what happened. Um before that I was just going, going, going, going, not thinking about it, going. Except in my nightmares, my nightmares I thought about it, but just going through. Um and now I've finally begun to come full circle and know it, understand it, and have moved forward from it.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

How did you how did you start that process in the journey?

SPEAKER_01 35:04

That's a good question. I uh I think a lot, like when I'm when I'm doing my hobble running or when I'm working on the house outside, um, I'm always thinking and reflecting um and and mentally like improving on myself. So one time one day I just like I think it's time. I think it's time.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Well, you have come a long way, and yeah, you you've made the most out of your time uh when your time was almost up. So uh new new outlook and and you're doing some pretty amazing things. So thank you so much for for sharing your story. Thank you for your journey, and yeah, I I appreciate you sitting down and and talking through this and and keep being awesome. And I love I love following I I started following it right away when when the news broke uh 13 years ago, uh and continue to follow through the to conviction and uh just your journey along the way. So I I appreciate you and and thank you for for sharing here.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Yeah, and uh best of luck on the move, and hopefully uh all the packing goes well and and everything's smooth.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

Hopefully. Hopefully it is.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

If if it's not, we've moved like cross-state, cross-country, pro like in the teens number of times.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Oh wow. So you're pros.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

We can take it.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

There you go. Uh I guess silly question. Is this a navy move? And is there a navy in Wyoming or like or a base in Wyoming? That seems pretty landlocked.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Uh no. This move is uh for it's my husband's job. Um he is a dual master's nuclear and aerospace engineering. He is maintenance engineering Yeah. Yeah, he's a nerd. I love him. Um he is the maintenance engineering lead at a the first of its kind nuclear reactor. Um, and they've never built it in the United States before. Um, so he is we're we're all we're gonna move to Wyoming when where they're building it, um, and he's going to God know, design maintenance stuff. He's he's gonna make sure the Navy or the nuclear is all cool. Um But he is still in the Navy, he's in the reserves, um, mainly for health care because I always break myself because I am now super clumsy because I can't, you know, walk like normal, but I think I can.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

So that's a whole different challenge then.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

Oh yeah. Oh yeah yeah, yeah. It's uh I remember one time when I was when I was paracycling, um, I was in the Paralympic pipeline for for the Paralympics, and we're at a camp, and I was walking on a curb talking to Sam, and I'm like, I'm gonna fall off here at this intense cycling camp. I'm going to fall walking. So I got off that curb.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Self-awareness.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Yeah. Yeah, it's something I'm supposed to have. I'm working on that.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Yeah. Well, yeah, you keep working on that and keep taking care of yourself and keep pushing yourself at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Oh, I will. Always do.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Becky. Thanks for listening to the Memento Viveri project. I hope this episode reminded you that the life you dream about is not as far away as it feels. It may push you outside your comfort zone. It may take discipline and courage, but it only takes one small step today to put you on the path towards your ideal future. Life is a project, and remember to live it. So here's your challenge. Don't just listen to this episode. Do something with it. Write down one dream, one adventure, one conversation, or one step you've been putting off and determine how you are going to take action on it this week. And if this episode moved you in any way, share it with someone else who could benefit from it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss other inspirational stories. And please, leave a review. Help us build a community of people who are chasing dreams, building their ideal lives, and living intentionally. Until next time, Memento Vivere. Remember to live.