The year was 2004. Peggy had come through a battle with cancer that turned into the complete loss of her voice for many months. In the meantime, she had been working out with a personal trainer for a couple of years and was in the best shape of her life.

I was gently exhorting Peggy to get a job. Actually, I’m a guy, so I am not certain that my exhortations were all that gentle. But they were persistent and consistent.

When our son was six years old Peggy came home from work to be with him. She stayed home with him through junior high school while serving in numerous volunteer roles at school and church. When he started high school I told Peggy that I needed her to find a way to contribute financially so we would be able to afford to send Mike to college in four years.

Then she got cancer, then the battle to regain her voice, and I stopped asking her to figure out what kind of job she wanted to get. I just asked her to get well.

She was given a clean bill of health. In fact, the doctor told her that her outstanding physical conditioning played a role in her recovery. I began exhorting in earnest, and she began exploring avenues.

Understand, Peggy had been tremendously successful in her ten year career before coming home to be with Mike. In fact, if she had continued working she would probably have been the Chief Information Officer of the company for which she had worked. But things change quickly in the cyber world and her knowledge from eight years before was pretty much useless now. Hence, her quandary.

It was her personal trainer, Becky, that offered the most obvious solution — get certified as a personal trainer and join Becky as her partner. Peggy threw herself into obtaining the most rigorous personal training certification in the United States, and in a couple of months she was working with clients.

Her practice grew very quickly. You would have to know her to understand how positive an influence she is, and that translated quickly into clients. She developed a reputation for working extremely well with elderly people who were preparing for surgery or recovering from injury, and doctors in the area began sending clients to her to get help.

Peggy views her job as teaching her clients enough that they can stop coming to her. She tells each client this when they begin. For some reason — maybe even for that reason — they just want to continue working with her. Or maybe it is just because she is the most loving and compassionate person you could meet. And then she kicks your ass in the gym. But always with a smile on her face.

Peggy paid for Mike to go to college. He graduated two years ago with no student debt. More importantly, she found a calling. She loves helping people, and they love her.

Today is the last day of her training practice in Katy. She has been driving from Austin to Houston two or three days every week since we moved. She has been helping some of her clients transition to a new trainer, and some of them will now work out on their own.

Peggy is pretty confident she will find something to do in Austin. I’m no longer exhorting her to do anything except what she wants to do.

I cannot express how proud I am of her and the work she has done. And I look forward to having her in Austin a little more frequently, too!