Recently the following question was asked: who inspires you?

Of course Jennifer Aniston for her always perfect hair. Jim Carey for making me feel a little less like a nut. Mary Decker for getting up off the track and running. Mary Lou Retton for nailing that perfect 10 on the vault. And, most recently, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson for climbing the Dawn Wall, a photo of which I took using 110 film before I was 10 and has been framed in my room almost as long.

But my true inspiration comes from the ordinary. My childhood friend, Reem, for everything. We’ve known each other since we were 10. I don’t carry a memory from childhood without her in it in some way. She’s classy, smart, sweet. Jennifer. She just works with it, whatever “it” might be. (This is actually true of both Jennifer’s I know). Jennifer is the only one I know that wakes up earlier than me, who possibly has more energy than me. She is who I want to be when I grow up. Shirley, true Montana. Beautiful and full of life. She is her own person. Preserving the past, embracing the future. Kamala for simplicity. She enjoys the everyday moments most of us take for granted.

I often spend so much time looking for answers away from where I am that I loose sight of what’s right in front of me. It took me a month to answer this question. It wasn’t until I was running around the track in Truckee that I found what I was looking for, inspiration in what was around me. Not only in the things, but the people. People that have been in my life for more years than I’ve fingers and toes. Each of my friends I keep because they inspire me.

With my Facebook friends I can list one thing about each of them that inspires me. For one it is spontaneity, another is commitment, another is dedication. Each possessing a quality, skill or trait I want. Something that makes me just a bit better.