One man's inspiring journey.

I can't tell you how much I love hearing from you readers. I get SO MUCH SUPPORT and encouragement from you! For example, in response to my post the other day about the little girl who was raped, I received the following letter (anonymized by me and posted with the author's kind permission.) Thought it might inspire and motivate some of you :)

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Hey Georgette I wanted to thank you and commend you for sharing that personal part of your life in today's blog. It's an opportunity to reciprocate and tell something of one of your loyal readers, me. I am a blue belt under *** and have been training for 3 years. I am [over 35] years old and compete in the *** division. I live on a quiet block a mere mile away from the ***.

For the past 17 years I have been a *** police officer the last ten of which I have been a detective. I am presently assigned to the **** squad in the *** section of ***. I deal with everything from harassing phone calls,domestic violence, sexual assault and murder. Along with anything in between. I rent from my landlord who lives upstairs with his family and who also is a *** cop and is a brown belt under ***.

I was always a drinker but as I ended my twenties and entered my thirties it took me over and I had to go away to rehab for a month or I would have drank myself to death. No particular reason, I was just an untreated alcoholic. It's been nearly 8 years since I had a drink and I am grateful for my sobriety. It goes hand in hand with my bjj journey, things like being patient, it will come when it comes, and leaving the ego at the door are all things I need to have reinforced.

I was always into fitness, excluding the profound darkness of my worst drinking time, but hitting the gym was not doing it for me. As a cop in *** all physical confrontations I was involved with went to the ground. Hearing my landlord talking of training and him putting his hands on me to show me some bjj was all it took.

My goal is to be training and learning into old age and beyond. Being sober has allowed me access to life. Bjj has become a part of my life and I am grateful for that. Few endeavors in life can match the growth experience we are privileged to be engaged in, may it never stop.

So that is me, ***. Yours in friendship and bjj.

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That just made my day. Biggest smile on my face ever! Worth more to me than any shiny medal or spiffy new gi.

Second biggest smile? From seeing my buddy Mike in California's little girl who is starting to train BJJ. A teammate dyed her gi. Isn't she adorable?

I love you readers! :)