Anything is possible

Four weeks of training ended today and in that time I ran 75 miles and the training will continue for a total of 16 weeks. That is simply amazing to this stay-at-home mom and wife. Let me be clear about who I am. I would never call myself an athlete and the people who work at the gym I had a membership at wouldn't be able to recognize me if I walk up to them with a name tag on. Get the picture? There is nothing outstanding or extraordinary about me. People that know me are shocked when they hear I am running a marathon.

Today I ran a 5k sponsored by my church. Before I left to start my run, Becky, a friend walked up to me who had been following me on face book, and said she was so proud of me. I needed those words before the race began. I know it was just 3.2 miles and last Saturday I had run 9 miles in the rain. However, the thought of running in front of so many people that knew me was scary. What if I fell or just ran out of energy or what if I came in last? Later Becky asked Jenn how she got me to run 9 miles at one time. Doesn't that question alone just sum it up enough?

If you had asked me four weeks ago if I could run nine miles I would have giggled and said no way but 'way' it happened and in the rain. Today's run was a bit harder because it was 89 outside and I always run at 5 am well before the Texas heat starts in but even with the heat, I ran a total of 7 miles today. That doesn't mean I didn't want to give up and in fact once with less than a mile to go I stopped. The urge to quit was over whelming. I was sweating and it seemed too hard to go on. I hit that emotional and mental block that told me I couldn't do it. I had to just shhhs it and start running again otherwise I would still be standing less than a mile from my house.

"Remember to put one foot in front of the other." That is the truth and not just in running. I have been working on writing for years but mostly just haphazardly. Not with conviction or any sort of consistent drive. One foot in front of the other crosses over into your daily life and your life goals. How often do we give up our dreams because it seems like we can't obtain it.

Alternatively, we put off something that we needed to do because it just seemed overwhelming. If we would just plod on with one foot in front of the other, we could accomplish so much. You see running slow is effective because it still gets you where you want to go. Are you moving one foot in front of the other to reach your goals or just to complete a task you want to put off until later?

Freedom

Oh the freedom!!! I have had a day with the kiddos at school and I don't want it to sound as if I don't love them but I did rejoice after 9:00 am when they were all in school on Monday. My dh called to make sure I was not lonely without the kids. Is he crazy? I don't know if other S@HM feel the same but I love and look forward to snatches of times of solitude. How many of us go to the restroom just to get away from the chatter? I know it is my place of solitude. Now that I have had a day to myself I have to get busy. I have so many little projects to do and since I no longer have the excuse of the kids underfoot I guess I'll just have to do them! So I guess freedom is really realitive isn't it. But I will take it anyway I can.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

You don't realize how much your mother means to you until you grow up and have have children of your own. Being a mother is incredibly hard. You are put in charge of these intense free willed beings and expected to guide them to adulthood alive. I remember how terrified I was when I was left with my first child. I am sure the nurses laughed at the desk when I called for help because he had hiccups. The cure was a pacifier. Who would have thought that would have been so terrifying. That same child is now twelve and is responsible for an amazing amount of gray hair I have now.

I am now past the diaper stage with all of my children but at the time I thought it would never end. We supported the Huggie stockholder for ten years. Too bad at the time I didn't own stock. I remember the frustration and the thoughts that I would have the only children graduating from high school in diapers. I am happy to say that isn't going to happen.

There are so many milestones we see our children reach and at the time we are so excited to see them reach them. The first smile, hearing the word mama, first steps or when they learn to ride the bike without training wheels. I don't think at the time I really valued all those milestones. I was excited with each one but I would love to turn back the clock and cuddle with my babies asleep on my chest. Take the time today and do something with each of your children. There will be a time that they won't have the time.

What is that smell?

Today I was reminded about how fast things can go really wrong. This morning I fixed breakfast (toast and instant oatmeal) for my kids, got them dressed, and signed folders. The normal morning activities before sending them off to school. My youngest son, Jonah split his cup of water on the kitchen floor so I asked him to grab a towel to clean it up. He cleaned it, gave me a kiss and rushed out the door with his brother to go to school. Nothing out of the ordinary right. Oh so wrong. As I sat on couch with my daughter reading a book, I began to smell something. Never in all my wildest dreams did I think something was burning in the kitchen until the smoke alarms began to go off. I hadn't really cooked anything this morning so history couldn't be repeating itself but that is another story altogether. I glanced over my shoulder to see flames shooting up from the island. Leaping like a gazelle (okay not quite that gracefully) over the back of the couch I grabbed the towel that was on fire and threw it in the sink. What caused the fire you ask? Well, I had lit a candle this morning to make the house smell fresh and not quite like the dogs that cohabitate with us. Well, my house no longer smells like dog, but I am not sure it is truly an improvement. The destruction was minimal just a melted telephone and chaired dishtowel and of course the counter top now has a strange brownish gold mark that resembles the phone. Has anything like this happened to you? Has the unexpected taken you in surprise and forced to to realize how blessed you are in all of your daily trials and joys.

Girls Day Out

Have you ever had a moment in time that you really wish you could relive over and over? Today was one of those days for me. I took my four year old daughter to see Barbie and the Symphony at the Bass Hall. We were all dressed up in finest (I even got out of my Tinkerbell pj's and put on heels) and were off for the girls day out. I have to confess in my dreams last night I had images of Paige, my daughter, crying to go to the bathroom or climbing up and down the stairs during the performance. None of those things happened. She was an angel. As I sat there listening to the music I couldn't help wonder how many more girls days will we have before she will want to be with her friends rather that her mom. I am going to savor these few moments for as long as I can. A very wise person told me that maybe my writing is suppose to wait and right now I am suppose to be a mom. I think she might just be right.