A Book From The Heart

One of the best feelings of writing my second book; A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp is the idea that sharing from the heart of my experiences and the hearts and stories of others in their journey at Olympia would make for a good read. Doing anything from the heart involves risk, with inherent rewards coming as a result. When I think of the good books I have read, it's the ones that are written from the heart that are the most impactful. I hope this book impacts others.

In hindsight the message of growth, accountability  and change through challenge is very similar to my first book, Can't Miss: The Kevin Pangos Story. This first book was published 8 years ago now and that was the journey of one hero. This book is about the journey of thousands who have walked the property of Olympia Sports Camp over the past 50 years.

I'd like to share a book that I read this week that impacted me greatly and is a book that everyone should read. This is a true hero's journey about taking on challenges with humanity.  It's all about a hero.

Let me introduce a hero of Olympia: Marty McCrone.

My memories of the shared time with Marty at Olympia are exactly why I see him as an ally, even though we haven't seen each other in years. Marty and his wife Julie were two of the classy people that one is lucky to meet at a place like Olympia. Julie ran the kitchen and Marty was a fellow basketball coach. I admired Marty for his passion for life and his use of humour in relating to his counsellors  and campers. He made it fun for every kid in camp. I recall one year when Marty stayed for the entire summer while Julie worked the kitchen.  He would fill in whenever his coaching was needed, but other weeks he'd have the run of the camp, playing in those great pick up games in the fieldhouse, working out, swimming, and enjoying the life of Interlaken more than most. I also remember when he went back to play CIS basketball at York for Bob Bain in his mid-thirties.  Now that's taking the bat off the shoulder! Now that's a journey!



Marty is a person who I always admired for his energy and go for it attitude. He was great to work with at camp, and I loved that he and his good friend Paul Hopper ran Thunderhoops camp for over 20 years, growing the game in the Barrie area. This week, however, took my admiration for Marty to a whole new level with the reading of his book Sweating the Small Stuff, and Loving It.

In his book Marty takes us through his battle with cancer, and he does it in a way that makes the reader go from laughter to tears page after page. When I read the book I could visualize Marty at those times and also while he was writing about it years later. Marty started the process a couple of years ago by giving his Facebook followers a series of small, weekly essays about his journey. With the feedback he got for the impact his writing was having on others, those essays have morphed into a book that is as inspiring as it is enlightening. The book is filled with honesty, love, caring about others, Marty's love of music, and of course classic McCrone humour. Along his journey he meets a lot of key allies whose wisdom, forced through their own tough journeys, helped Marty with his journey. Now Marty is sharing of himself for the benefit of all. After all, as Marty points out, when a person has cancer, all those around them are affected by cancer.

Marty's journey takes us to what he calls "middle Earth" that cancer patients find themselves in as they battle this ogre of all ogres. His allies help him see the role of hope, the greatest of all things. Even the title itself gives credence to the hero's journey. Cancer patients would love to sweat the small stuff that we all get hung up on, and not have to sweat the big stuff that a cancer diagnosis can force upon someone. Another line that really brought the book to light is from an African tribe that upon greeting someone don't say " how are you" they say "I see you." How many times do we see someone who is going through something and we don't see the person, we see the affliction. Powerful message of truly caring.

Just another amazing person we get to meet on our journey.

I See You Marty!

Here is the link to amazon. Read this book. You'll be glad you did

https://www.amazon.ca/.../ref=cbw_us_ca_dp_narx_gl_book...


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