A Winning Combination

The Induction of Michelle (Shelly) Raynes into the Special Olympics Utah Hall of Fame.

A Winning Combination

The lights were bright and the environment was elegant when Shelly Raynes was being inducted into the Utah Special Olympics Hall of Fame.  I was sitting at a large round table with old and new friends in the ballroom of a hotel in downtown Salt Lake City where we shared a nice view of the podium from our seats.

I also had another view that I most likely would not have noticed were it not for the boisterous nature of the people sitting at one table in particular.  Yes, it was the exuberant cheering from that table that caught my attention, but that was not what kept my gaze fixed there for almost the entire time Shelly was on the stage.

When I say my gaze, perhaps it is almost more accurate to call it contemplation.  I was listening to the induction while carefully studying the people just a couple of tables away.

“Shelly grew up in a large family which she refers to as ‘the Ten Red Heads.’”

When these words entered my ears I looked ever more carefully and confirmed that there were many red headed people sitting at that particular table.  It was becoming obvious to me that these were more than just Shelly’s fans.  They were steadfast and devoted fans.

A steadfast fan could also be called unwavering and at one point during the presentation I watched one of the red headed women stand tall at her seat. Her hands were clasped together near her heart and her eyes were fixed at the proceeding.  She looked on with misty eyes filled with joy, an icon of steady and firm purpose.  She was there to celebrate her sister’s success.

It is not my intent here to diminish Shelly’s success in any way, but her real success reaches far beyond the athletic fields and courts.  It is rooted in personal relationships that have been tested by time and cemented by sacrifice and service.  Her victories, though impressive, would be less sweet and possibly hollow without being able to share them with her family, friends and community.

After all, it is the personal process of striving in combination with others that allows a person to become more than they could ever become on their own.  I believed that to be true before I had children.  But, it was the process of sacrificing my own comfort, time and energies for the benefit of my children before I knew this to be true.  Shelly’s sister knows it too.  I recognized the look in her eyes and on her face as one who has been refined by this process.

So for me, the induction process was not completed until Shelly walked off the podium and into the waiting arms of those who share her love and victory.  They have truly discovered the secret of winning through combination.