Competing for a million dollars on the CBS reality show "The Amazing Race" was something I never in my wildest dreams thought would happen to me. Planning and preparation, stamina, endurance...all of these attributes were required of me. I learned to operate on little food, spare change, no sleep and at high altitudes. And, as a result, I have found that the Race affected the way that I now look at my life and life in general. While I never doubted my own ability to compete in this amazing adventure, I am proud that, as a woman in mid-life, I was able to prove to others - as well as myself - that my age was not a factor....it was all about attitude and will-power. Patrick and I, while now back at our 'normal' lives, will never be able to forget those few weeks of our life when we, along with 20 others, lived our lives in ‘fast-forward.’ The Amazing Race will always be one of my most memorable and dramatic life experiences.
I am excited to be in a position to offer my experiences to others - experiences based upon my later-in-life career development and my most recent extreme adventure. Never being one to let age be a limitation to my aspirations, I can comfortably say to other women in mid-life that "you CAN achieve your goal...just go for it!"
I also speak to others on being a parent of a gay child - the challenges, misunderstandings and acceptance issues. This is a topic that is especially important to my husband and me, as our son "came out" to us in his early twenties. My son and I participated in this most recent extreme adventure that "played-out" on national television, and I have a new respect for him as a result of it.
