King of Dupont

One of the benefits of having a spouse who never reads our family blog is that I can say just about whatever I want about him on here and trust he'll never know. On a day like today, that means I can brag. See that mean-wild look in his eyes in the pic above? That's cause he's tearing it up in the Dupont Forest 12k, which he won with a time of 44:05. (Second race in a row that he's won...yes, I have no shame in loving it!) Although he's still getting back into top racing shape, he's in pretty good shape right now, and he's enjoying the beautiful weather and the many chances to get out into it to enjoy a run with his buddies, or solo for that matter. You know your husband has the racing bug when: he runs twice in one day, the second time being through a thunder storm (don't worry mom, he didn't die); he takes his running clothes to work to run on lunch breaks, and takes them to church to run during the Sunday school hour; he says he'll be back soon and is then gone running for over two hours. The running bug's got him good. Welcome race season!

The above pic of Myles is at the UNCA labyrinth, a pretty beautiful space where some of us from church gathered with our kids this past week to run, skip, jump, and walk the labyrinth. Definitely deserves a second, more focused visit from Myles and me.

Myles Says: I've gotten into the habit of singing 3 songs with Myles before we go to bed...one of which is "Sanctuary," which always takes me back to a certain school gym in Letcher County (accompanied by Liz and her guitar, followed by stories of the precious puppies of Appalachia). Anyhow, Myles first listened to the 3 songs, and then began to lip-sync them. However, if he is off in his lip-syncing he insists I re-start the song...and this happens every song, every time. A sweet ritual, now perfunctory and frustratingly long. I finally had to draw the line, to much weeping and gnashing of teeth. When I asked Myles why he had to mouth the words, rather than just listen (or better yet, sing with me), he said, "Because I need to know these songs so I can sing them to my kids one day," in a very exasperated voice.

Myles has recovered nicely from his first scraped knee of the season, which was a pretty bad one (I gagged changing his bandages, as he wept and screamed with every bandaid pulled off). Good thing he's recovered since he had to hop on one leg for the first day of the injury, then was able to limp but missed a week of Playball and swim class. Perhaps worst, he refused to bathe, so we resorted to the old washcloth routine. However, I'm happy to report that somehow he went biking again (that's how he sustained his injury in the first place) the very next day.

This week I've been preoccupied and distraught over the Trayvon Martin tragedy. I had to work it into the sermon this morning, especially after seeing how it's affecting the larger community. As a mother myself, my heart just aches for his mom. Who could bear their child experiencing that kind of violent death, fueled by racism and hatred? We still have so far to go. I heard today that Ecumenical Advocacy Days had skittles and iced-tea (what Martin was carrying when he was shot) on their communion altar, and thought that quite fitting. This weekend I tore through the novel March, written by Geraldine Brooks, which is her version of what happened to Mr. March (of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women family) when he was off at war (Civil war). It was given to me by a friend about 5 years ago, and for some reason it lingered on my shelf. It was an amazing read, covering the horror of war and the mixed motives for the Civil War; what it looked like as slavery was upended in the South. The accounts of the treatment of those who were enslaved took my breath away. I've read a lot on the subject, but every time I'm horrified by the cruelty possible within the human heart; overwhelmed by the violence, hatred, and injustices that were so engrained in the life and soul of our nation. Racism just runs so deep. Anyhow, if you're the praying kind (or even if you're not), please do lift up Trayvon Martin's family this week and pray that justice will be done.

The Kindergarten Tape

Okay, this beautiful photo is actually from New Years' Eve, but Seth's got all the updated ones on his camera and he's not home so this will have to do for now. Here's Myles ringing in the new year with his buddies.

What prompted me to post, however, is that I got on the computer and saw that Seth did download some new videos to youtube, so here's a link to Myles' swimming. Only 30 seconds, but mom, this one's for you.

I've also been meaning to update the blog with a story that happened a few months ago. I've already told it to lots of folks, but it's so beautiful that I wanted to write it down. After the new year, I attended a kindergarten information session put on by the city schools where we heard from the principals from each of the city elementary schools. As I think I noted in my last blog, it made me think of my dad who was an elementary school principal while I was in elementary school (at a different school). I was in the middle of this great meeting, and became totally overwhelmed with emotion, thinking about my dad and how excited he would be to see Myles embarking on his education. There are so many questions I want to ask him as we prepare for kindergarten, and I guess I was kind of feeling cheated. With my dad gone, there are so many questions I'll never be able to ask him, questions that weren't even on my radar screen when he died. I really miss his wisdom and presence in our lives. So I called my mom to tell her all of this.

A week or so later, my mom called and asked if we have a tape player. Why yes, we are so modern that we actually have one in our car radio, if you can imagine that. She said she had a tape she was planning to bring when she came for a visit. It was a tape that she didn't even know she had, and she found it while cleaning out a back room in the basement. It's a tape of my dad speaking on a radio show when he was an elementary school principal. Among the topics he touched on was how to prepare your child for kindergarten. I popped that tape in the tape-player after my mom left, and it's like gold to me. My dad's voice is all young and energetic, and everything he says sounds so smart and I pretended he was talking just to me. Like the many rainbows, eagles, and hawks we've all seen since my dad died, this tape felt like a reassurance from him that he's watching, that he loves me, that he cares what's going on in my life. I'm so thankful I can receive these assurances just when I need them. It makes not having him here bearable. It was such an amazing gift!

Mylestones: Myles is learning how to swim. He's almost there. Candyland is is favorite board game these days, and it seems like we play it endlessly. He had a wonderful time "helping" Seth with the landscaping last week until Seth pulled out his back (rest assured, he's better, he ran 10 miles yesterday to train for a race tomorrow). They love bike-riding together. Myles also got his first "progress report" at preschool, a report on where he is with all the developmental milestones kids are supposed to be hitting as they come to the end of preschool. He did great! Out of dozens of categories, the two areas where we are "improving" is in listening while others are talking and self control. Sounds about right...

Seth is getting back into racing shape after a lighter running season this winter. He loves his job, and every day there's a new challenge, crisis, or problem to solve that lands on his desk and he rises to each occasion. He would like his new job description to become permanent, and hopefully that will happen in May. He continues to chug along in school.

All is well with me...I am loving this weather, spring totally has my heart with all its colors and sunshine. I've enjoyed having some windows open so we can get fresh air in the house. The battle with the sugar ants is on! (My weapon this year: all natural hot shot, which smells like lemongrass, but really does the trick) Church is good; I love what I do and I see how I've grown in the past few years (hoping to continue that trend). We haven't seen as much of our friends as we'd like to lately, but hopefully with daylight savings and the good weather we'll be out and about more in the coming weeks/months. Thanks for tuning in!

P.S. I'm on a facebook fast during Lent, so don't try to connect with me there until after Easter.