Outside Magazine Interview and Podcast
We have known Paddy O’Connell since our cherubs were knee high to a grasshopper. Paddy was a lifeguard at the River Forest Tennis Club, and the guard every parent tried to secure for a Saturday evening event. Tall, strong, funny, with a childlike sense of wonder, Paddy was adored by our children. Right up until he became Hunter’s high school lacrosse coach, at which time he was feared for his in-your-face style and the accountability he demanded. I can still remember one of the boys glumly walking over to Lincoln School to shoot a ball against the building because “Paddy says I have to catch 100 balls on my right and left stick side. Each day.”
We also knew Paddy to have the soul of an Irish poet and storyteller and were fortunate to sit in proximity to this gift when Paddy approached Lawlor, Mark and me for a piece that Outside Magazine was producing on “Forces of Good” in the outdoors community. Thankfully, Lawlor’s ultramarathoning running qualified us to be included in the conversation! On December 8, 2021, Paddy’s podcast about Lawlor, running and Be The Boat went live. Wow.
In the parlance of the day, please consider this your “trigger warning” – we do discuss Hunter’s death. It is an emotional piece and made for a challenging listen and yet, Lawlor’s vulnerability and honesty were beautiful to sit in proximity to. As it was released on Mark’s birthday, it made for some reflective conversations and in hindsight, that was nice too. Each of the children found resonance in the messaging, even if some of the story was difficult to relive.
Mark, Lawlor, and I were interviewed separately so we, too, were excited to listen to it. At its core, we believe the podcast speaks directly to the restorative healing that comes from vulnerability, self-reflection, and the decision to choose to move forward, despite the challenges of doing so. By modeling forward movement, we’re also trying to model hope. In life, we are asked to hold joy and sorrow simultaneously, and many of our grants are issued to help children do just that. At Be The Boat, working in “community” matters, and we view the borders on our community as limitless. Great things are happening across the Chicagoland area, in areas dramatically more diverse than the community in which our children were raised. We embrace that and are grateful that our message that despite trauma, with needed behavioral and mental health supports, one can run towards life rather than simply away from pain.
Enjoy this love letter to siblings, love, love-beyond-loss and our natural capacity for hope (sniff, sniff): https://www.outsideonline.com/podcast/running-grief-be-boat/
By 2/17/22, over 55,000 listeners had enjoyed this track. WOW. We are humbled. And, it goes without saying (but, of course, I must!), thank you for walking this road with us. You have served as boats of love – our personal flotation devices – and we are so very grateful for the care you’ve offered us!
