Tag Archives: Chad Hymas

It’s My Birthday and I’ll Cry If I Want To!

“It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to – cry if I want to – cry if I want to”.  Yes, I know the real lyrics are “It’s my PARTY and I’ll cry if I want to …”  If you have no idea what I am talking about – that’s proof I AM old!

Truthfully, if I cry today for turning another year older,  it’s tears of JOY, GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION for life’s experiences.

Birthday

At 51 years “young” I don’t feel much older than I did in high school, it’s only when I pass a mirror that I am reminded of my age. I decided to make a list of all the things I have been fortunate to experience throughout the past half-a-century as a reminder how precious life truly is ….

  • Born on ranch in Montana to the best family ever!
  • Rode horses everyday…. okay not everyday, but a lot
  • Met my future husband at age 8
  • My mother saw that I was kept busy so I didn’t have time to get into trouble; Dance, Piano, Guitar, Voice Lessons, Gymnastics and played in the Band – alto saxophone
  • Grew up with 6 living grandparents
  • Kept busy in High School: Senior Class President, Vice-President of Ski Club, Gymnastics team-Captain, Seminary Council, Choir Secretary – these roles landed me a Leadership Scholarship to BYU!
  • Skier – favorite resort: Alta
  • Loved the College life – BYU and BYU-Hawaii
  • Learned to Surf and Snorkel. (hate snorkeling – claustrophobic)
  • Married my secret High School crush – Scott Mackintosh
  • Mother of 7 AMAZING kids
  • Natural childbirth
  • One C-Section
  • Milked goats for 12 years
  • Community Service “Door Knocker” Award
  • 4H Horsemanship Leader – 17 years
  • England and Scotland – Twice
  • I’m a Cruise-a-holic – 8 Cruises
  • Para-Sailing- Twice (hated it – scared to death of heights)
  • India – Twice (loved, loved, loved my experience in India and the priceless friendships made)
  • Dubai
  • Rode a Camel and an Elephant
  • Camping with my family – love roasting marshmellows around a camp fire
  • Worked for two AMAZING Speaker/Authors: Kevin Hall and Chad Hymas which led to meeting….
  • Inspiring people: Immaculée Ilibagiza, Emmanuel Kelly, Rolanda Watts, Sean Stevenson, Dave Winfield, Mark Sandborn, Bridget Cook, Rebecca Musser, Lisa Nichols, Allison Byrd, Thurl Bailey, Mark Eaton, Jason Hewlett and the master of words Arthur Watkins.  ….and so many others through the National Speakers Association.
  • Gone Viral – Met Rachael Ray and Regis Philbin
  • Wrote a book “My Husband Wears The Short Shorts In THIS Family!”
  • Met and conversed with the LDS Prophet Thomas S. Monson for 20 minutes – a highlight of my life!
  • and the BESTEST of all  ….I am a GRANDMA!

I am truly indebted to God, my Heavenly Father, who has deeply blessed me, carried me through dark times when I wanted to give up, wiped away my tears when my heart was breaking, allowed me to experience and grow through trials and challenges and has not let a day go by that God didn’t tell me or show me how much He loves me.  I see it in my children’s faces, in my husband’s hug, in the flowers, the birds and the many wonderful friends that contribute to who I am. I am a child of God, a wife, mother and friend, what more could a person ask for?  I can’t think of a dang thing, except for perhaps a big piece of  strawberry short cake.  HaPpY Birthday to me!

 

 

Speaking? A Book? What? Me? Us? Oh My!

Last week my cute married daughter and recent college graduate Kelsey, created a video from our many TV appearances.

I think you will agree that she is very talented. I’d like to say she takes after me, but NO, all that techie stuff goes right over my head. She made this video for her dad and I to use as an intro-piece at our speaking gigs. What speaking gigs? I know, WE are as surprised as you are. Let me back up a bit and explain what’s been happening.

A few weeks ago, New York Times Best Selling Author M. Bridget Cook, called asking if she could interview me, my husband Scott, and my daughter Myley and then help ME write an eBook of our story and other life’s lessons in raising seven children. Wow is all I can say! We have been busy writing and will soOn have an eBook on Amazon. The book is entitled “My Husband Wears The Short Shorts In THIS Family.”

A week following Bridget’s telephone call, motivational speaker/author Chad Hymas called. If you don’t know Chad, you need to get to know him. He is listed in the Wall Street Journal as one of the ten most inspirational men in the world. Chad is a member of the Speakers Roundtable and the youngest to be inducted into the National Speakers Hall of Fame. I have been fortunate enough to work for Chad the past few months and have known him for several years. Our telephone conversation that day went something like this,

“Becky, is Scott home?

“No, he is out of town until Saturday.”

“Okay, I will call back on Sunday. I want to talk to the both of you about becoming a speaker and sharing your message with the world.” He added, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

What Chad said next caught my attention,
“I am not essentially firing you, but I am firing you. And then I want to become your speaking coach. You will need to work really hard. Instead of putting 40 hours into me, I want you to put 40 hours a week into becoming a speaker. Can you do that?”

The following Sunday when Scott and I spoke to Chad we were overcome with feelings of both doubt and excitement.

“Can we really do this? YES, we CAN do this!”

We couldn’t ask for a better mentor or coach than Chad, it doesn’t get any better.

AND what’s better than to speak about something we are so passionate about – NOTHING!

Teens are the most misunderstood age group, the group most people want to skip over and ignore, but we love them! Scott is gray, and I color my hair because of them. But there is nothing we’d rather do than help bridge the gap from teens to parents and strengthening families.

The crazy thing is that over the years I have asked Scott a number of times the following question, “If you could BE anything and DO anything what would it be?” I would quickly add, “Besides being a professional hunting guide.”

Scott’s answer was always the same, “I would be a speaker focusing on teens. I would like to speak to teens and parents everywhere.”

I would pipe in, “What would you speak on? What would your platform be?” He’d say, “I don’t know.”

Then I’d say in a skeptical kind of way, “Scott it’s not like church where they assign you a topic ….you have to have a platform.”

Well Scotty ….Guess what? Now you have a platform! It came unexpectedly, it’s a good one and the world apparently is wanting to hear it.

About three years ago, Scott started writing a book about his life lessons, a book to pass down to his children, but now I’m thinking it may go to a much broader audience. What do you think?

Before remembering the book that Scott has been writing, I bought the URL “Life’s Short Lessons” to build out a website to house all our “stuff”. It will be humorous, fun, inspiring and enlightening. To be LAUNCHED very very SoOn!

We didn’t plan for any of this to happen, we couldn’t have scripted it any better if we wanted. The opportunity to share what we love just opened up to us on it’s own. We are grateful, a bit nervous and overjoyed for this new chapter.

Thanks for your support.
bEcky mAck 🙂