Thank you Lord for favors, large and small

As I was driving  to work this morning, I was reflecting on the eventful morning in my household.  Could we REALLY have that much drama in 30 min or less? The answer is – YES we can*.

So next question, who started it? ME.  I will so own up to it.  I have no qualms, no hesitation about it; there is NO mistaking that I commited the most heinous Mom-fail. EVER.  But I have been redeemed and may possible have made the biggest Win ever. However, I cannot take any credit for this victory.

I forgot to set my alarm to take my oldest (my son) to school to meet a charter bus for 6 am to embark on an amazing science field trip (only for a select few from his school)  to Moody Gardens. When I realized my mistake, the household atmosphere disintegrated: Happiness to misery in 0.5 seconds.

A million dispairing thoughts rushed into my head: my son is going to miss out, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, I can’t make up for this, he’s going to hate me, it’s my fault, his friends and teachers know that he is supposed to go – how can I make him face them today?, why did  I forget?, and on and on. I disintegrated, crying and apologizing.  My rational side spoke up (Mike) and asked if I could take the day off.  YES, I CAN. (Thx Bob).

Engage speed dressing, gather purse, keys, drinks, breakfast bars, and fruit, and we’re out the door- on our way to Galveston to deliver my son to the group.  I call the school and beg them for the cell numbers of the chaperones, which they do provide.  Thankfully, one of them answers.  When I explain that I am willing to meet them in Galveston, she informs me that their charter bus had a break-down and they were waiting for a new bus. And, are you ready?  They were still in Sulphur, across the street from my child’s school.  Only 10 minutes away.  Are you kidding?  I was already on the interstate heading toward Galveston, but not past the last Sulphur exit.

… {You predict the ending}

So, why is this victory not mine?  Yes, my son did get to join his friends on the charter bus and I was able to go to work, mostly, on time. Yay!  I saved the day!

God put me in a particular place, at a particular time, with specific challenges, blessings, and opportunities – to grow in wisdom and to be able to serve Him.  He gets the credit. Not me.

1. God allowed me to find Mike;

2. God has graced Mike and I with 23 years and 2 fabulous children.

3. Mike’s personality is to see many options, avenues, and points of view, quickly, methodically, and  rationally. – Must be  a God-given talent.

{Mike calms me, suggests that I take our son to meet his school group in Galveston}

4. The school secretary gives me cell phone numbers for teachers.  I’m calling as a parent; I probably sounded panicky and crazy –  I  mean, I have a REAL crisis here!  That should have been warning signs to say no, right?  Nope, she gives the numbers like she’s reading the lunch menu. A small act – but infinitly crucial to us.

5. The charter bus is delayed.  Hmmmm. While I cannot say that God made it break down, I have to wonder about the delay.

6.  I was able to meet the group in Sulphur.

Many small factors this morning.  Many small blessings, favors that exist when, taken individually, don’t mean much, but when added together, can mean the world.  I realize many times, many ways that God is working in my life.  How about you?  But do we take time to relfect and be thankful?

You can simple say, It’s coincidence; You were lucky.  Go ahead.

I’ll  simple say: Thank you Lord for favors, both large and small!

*Sorry, no allusion to Bob, the Builder is evenly remotely intended.

Empower Me

I keep a collection of inspiring and sometimes funny posts from Facebook, Runner’s World, etc. Stuff like “When in doubt, run it out”, “Believe in the run” and (one of my favorites) “If you see me collapse, pause my Garmin.” Why do I keep these? Maybe to recite them on a long run when I’m having a particularly difficult time and need self-motivation. Maybe to repeat them to others to (hopefully) inspire them. Maybe I wish I could have thought of them myself to inspire the masses. Maybe to give me reassurance that others (anonymous, unknown people) have experienced the same things I am experiencing. I really don’t know why. They always sound really good at the time. These quotes and quips sound like power and motivation. Which leads me to wonder, from where do I get motivation? Words, friends, husband, self? One single source of motivation cannot get you through the hours and miles of training for a full marathon. No doubt, it takes many sources. Sometimes, I have relied on the company of friends, like the time Ra ran with me for the first 10 miles of a 20 mile training run. Sometimes it’s my husband who rode his bike to pace me and advise me on changes to my running form: posture, stride, kick, push-off. Sometimes, the only company you have on a long run is your subconscious, which can be a double-edged sword. It can defeat you into shortening your run: “Just do 10k and go home.” It can cast doubt on your strength: “Don’t make your knees/ hips hurt like last time.” “You may not recover from this.” It can weaken you: “So & so is sooo much faster then you.” Or your subconscious can lift you up: “I can do this.” It can encourage you: “I have strength.” Your subconscious and memory can use those weird quips to inspire you. And it can empower you. You have a choice and full control over your subconscious. That voice can empower you or defeat you. That voice is either negative or postivie. The optimum word is choice. You choose. Today I choose strength. I choose positive. I defeat negativity. I empower myself with inspiring words, supportive friends, encouraging family, and, most of all, a positive attitude. This direction MUST be a conscious choice every day because it’s too easy to fall into negativity. Then you’ve given your power away. Seize it back. Arm yourself with your most valuable weapon – your ability to empower yourself.

Suck it up Princess!

Take it like a man…Roll with the punches…No pain, no gain…Win some, lose some…

Trite sayings, yes.  But what can we learn from them?  Are there life lessons in these quips that are as old as dirt?

As I survey the various aspects of my life – teaching middle school, running and fitness, family, children, extra-curricular activities, church – it occurs to me that these sayings have a common thread – responsibility and acceptance.  Somewhere along the road of life, I have learned to be responsible for myself and I am trying to instill that sense of responsibility in my own children.  The phrase “Suck it up Princess” became a mantra for me during the last half-marathon that I ran.  Sure, it hurts a little now, but crossing the finish line with the knowledge that you ran as hard as you can is immensely fulfilling.

Many tidbits and lesson I learned while running have spilled over into other areas of life – job and family.

So when I get frustrated with teaching – I remember to ask myself – Am I running as hard as I can?  Can I run just a little harder?  Am I giving 110% physically and mentally?  I am responsible only for me. So if something fails, I have to reflect about my actions and seek to change only those things for which I am directly responsible.

Acceptance – Good and bad exists together.

 

The way it was back then

I was born on Oct 3, 1923 at Woodside which is about ten miles south of Simmesport on the

Atchafalaya River on a houseboat which we lived on that was our house – which had three

rooms, a kitchen and two bed rooms. The house boat was built on a barge of wood. In the

kitchen was we had a table and one iron wood stove – which was used for cooking, baking, and

heating. You had to heat hot water (on the stove) for washing dishes and bathing. We used a

No. 2 washtub for bathing. It was kept hanging on the side of the houseboat when not in use.

In one room was a bed where my mama and daddy slept and a wood burning heater for

the winter heating. But we lived happy.

My mama was a home maker and my daddy was a fisherman for a living. He would fish lines

sometimes of the year other times he would fish nets. Most of the time, Gree would trade his

fish for food (flour, rice, beans). We would plant a garden on the side of the river. My

mama and I would knit nets for him to fish – mostly catfish when the water would rise in the

bayou. When I was about 10 or 12, I helped Mama knit nets for some of the fishermen in

Simmesport. We would nail them up on the side of the fireplace and knit there. Papa Gree

made the shuttles we used. (LG). We lived up and down the river (Atchafalaya and Mississippi)

from Simmesport to Fort Adams, Miss., about two miles south of Fort Adams (and Buffalo

Bayou LG). When we were of school age, we had to walk to school. We would bring our lunch

in a little half gallon syrup bucket. My mama would get up and bake biscuits and fix eggs or

potatoes for our lunch. We went to school in a one-room school with one teacher for all. When

margarine came out, we would have to mix the yellow color into it. It was a treat (LG).

The Run that Changed me Forever

Since my last post was about the beginning of my running addiction, I thought I would fill in “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey says.  Back in February 2010, after the first half-marathon that I ran with the SPAR Stars, I became extremely sick.  My stomach hurt constantly.  I thought it was something to do with running, so I quit running.  I gradually recuperated from that run, but several months later I still had chronic stomach pain.  Oh well, I guess I can live with that, after all I have a sticker on my car that says 13.1!!!! That rocks!  What I wouldn’t do for a sticker.

By the end of 2011, I was itching to run again. So I started running…again.  If you have ever began a training program to run, you might remember starting.  I was starting over and it was a complete re-start in every sense of the word.  I had no flexibility, zero strength, and my endurance – ha!  I started slow, just a mile here and there, trying to build up to a 5K.  The more I ran, the sicker I got.  What!?!? How can running make me SICKER!  So I read blogs, articles, journals, everything related to diet, running, & stomach pain. In talking with my husband one day, he suggested cutting out bread – the carbs weren’t good for the extra weight around the middle anyway and it jived with what I read.  So I tried it. Cold turkey.  No bread for a week. No bread or flour-based products.  That includes pasta, cookies, pizza crust, pies, cake, waffles, etc… All I can say is: My poor family that had to tolerate this.

And I ran – and felt…good. Wow, really? The stomach pain that I had been “treating” with antacids, heartburn meds, tums, and pepto was subsiding.  It felt like a new life.  

 I resisted the urge to eat any wheat or gluten-based product for a month.  Just to make sure.  Yep! That was the culprit.  Because of the STRICT adherence to a gluten-free diet, I can run without fear of the repercussions (that constant punched-in-the-gut feeling.)  Bye bye antacid med; so long Pepto; see ya later Tums.  Those have been relegated to the back shelf of the medicine cabinet, because…I just don’t need them. 

I have run lots of 5Ks.  In January – February 2013, I ran 3 half marathons in five weeks.  Not bad for me.  After all its My Race…My Pace.

 

..

Running around

Several years ago I considered myself a non-runner. Nope, running was not for me. Sure, I could make a mad dash in a downpour from my car to the front door of the grocery store, but I was adamant that running was NOT for me. I even said it. Out loud. Leave me to my yoga and Pilates. If I want to sweat (or glisten) at the gym, I’ll do a step aerobics class. Heck, I might even try spin. Even that new Zumba thing. Nope, not gonna run.
However, that was then, this is now.
Now – I am a runner. How did this transformation take place? Well, for me, the process was quite interesting and mundane, all at the same time. I was a stay-at-home mom, thanks to a particularly devastating hurricane (more on that later). I had joined our local gym and was looking for something interesting to do with my spare time once the kids started school. When my daughter started her four-year-old pre-K class, I was free four days a week, so I volunteered to guide yoga and Pilates. I also took a few of the aforementioned step aerobics class. That’s where I met “the group.” Several enthusiastic ladies were training for the Contraband 5-miler. Their camaraderie was infectious. They made running look both exhausting and fun at the same time. Hmmm…how did they do that? I tried one 1.5 mile run with them to see what it was all about. I ran/walked it, panting and gasping, and was the last to finish. Not so much fun, I thought, as I glanced at their elated, refreshed, addicted-to-the-endorphins faces. Our fearless leader convinced me to try it again, just once more.

Fast-forward six months…I joined “the group” (known as the Spar Stars) for our first half marathon, the Run for Jimbo. I was a runner.

That was four years ago. This past January, I completed my first full marathon. I AM a runner. I am addicted to the endorphins created post-run. I have more running shoes than flip-flops. I have lots of pictures of my exhausted but ecstatic face after a run. I have a group that supports me and I them.

I am a runner.

It is better to…

It is better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt. – Mark Twain

This piece of advice was heard repeatedly throughout my house recently by none other than my eleven year-old son.  It was really fun to listen to him belt it out, quite melodiously, I might add.  No he was not trying to tell anyone that they were foolish, he was practicing for an elementary Honor Chorus performance.  But…I was thinking: “What a great piece of advice.”  In this day of instant access to the minutia of everyone’s minds, I will try being a good listener rather than a mediocre talker,  Less is more right?  Less babble, more meaning; less quantity, more quality.

Look before you leap – Think before you speak.  Hmmm…. I’m going to reflect on that.