We are moving from Miami, FL to Taos, NM and our schedule has just been put on hyper-speed.

Our original plan was to stay in Miami until July 1 to tie lose ends, hang out, say good bye, and spend time on the beach. However, this happened:

Displaced fracture. Ouch!

His nickname in this blog is Fearless, because the kid is rather wild. He rides, boards, jumps and climbs giving other parents a heart attack while I sigh. He does back and front flips on the trampoline like they were going out of style, and though he has had a several stitches on his head … how does he get his first fracture? Catching a football on the school playground.

He fractured his finger right on the growth plate, which I am told, is rather a big deal and must be taken seriously. I held my breath for a week before we knew he didn’t need surgery, which he thankfully didn’t. BUUUT, he will be in this cast for six weeks.  SIX freaking long weeks in the summer.

Let me show you what his cast looks like.

No pool. No beach. No sun. No trampoline. No bike. No climbing. Ergo. No Miami.

We now leave on June 20 instead of July 1.

There was an additional problem. It looked as if we had to add drums to the “no” list. And out of everything he can’t do, Fearless was most upset about not playing drums on his School of Rock Queen show 10 days out of the incident.

The doctor told him, in a half serious way, “well, there was always Rick Allen.”

Rick Allen, drummer for Def Leppard

Rick Allen, the drummer for hard rock band Def Leppard since 1978, lost his arm in a car crash in 1985. He continued to play with the band, which went on to its most commercially successful period with the one armed drummer.

Lightbulb went on in Fearless and the day after the fracture, when the Tylenol was finally kicking in, he was already on the drums trying to figure out his songs.

The morning after the fracture. I hadn’t even bought a sling for him yet!

We went to School of Rock and spoke to the Directors. We would give him a bunch of lessons so that he could play his easier songs: Under Pressure, We Are The Champions, Radio Gaga, and Flash. But he was taken off the song he liked to play the most: Ogre Battle.

And on band rehearsal day, when someone else played it instead of him, he cried.

Is there anyway you can rescue Ogre Battle? Why don’t you talk to your teacher.

It’s too hard. I already asked.

Well, ask again.

He usually has one lesson, and one rehearsal a week. We got him three lessons between the crying rehearsal and the show (6 days).  After two lessons, his teacher comes out and proudly tells me “we got Ogre Battle simplified. If he practices, I am going to tell the show director to listen to him and see if he can get back on the song.” Fearless was SO EXCITED.

The boy did not stop practicing. In his head or on the drums. One problem though, the drum stick would often fly out of his hand because he was going too fast.

Practice. Practice. Practice and practice until no drumsticks were flying.

And guess what? He floored his Director on the audition and was put back on stage for Ogre Battle. And guess what else? He was recognized by his band mates as he rocked the house with his one arm drumming … SUCCESS. (I can’t help but share with you his one armed, Ogre Battle performance at the Miami School of Rock Queen show. Just see below)

I often thinks of all the work I do with empowerment and the Run Club, and how children transform right before my eyes. But after three years of Run Club, my boys couldn’t care less, they are over it and no longer participate. HOWEVER, the lessons have sunk in … especially the one we learn that nothing is impossible. I am positive this affected how Fearless saw his injury and made his one arm drumming a no brainer. Why would a cast stop him, or anyone, from doing what they love?

But the belief that nothing is impossible has to be paired with grit. Because let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. And I also believe Fearless has become a gritty kid through the lessons in Run Club. We have a whole season focused on it!

Very soon, I will be announcing my program where you too could start a children’s empowerment and fitness business. Stay tuned … but if you are curious, just shoot me an email at cristina@dsrunclub.comand I’ll fill you in.