Miles To Go
I sat in my kitchen this morning, sipping my coffee and staring at my wall calendar. My white board calendar for the first half of June is a carefully color coded organization of our busy and chaotic daily lives. On the note section of the calendar is an anonymous quote,
"Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss only act as motivation."
It's funny because with all the end of year activities and another half marathon on the horizon, this is exactly what I need to hear right now. I dragged myself yesterday morning out of bed to run at 6am with my friend and running buddy, Robyn. I must give her a lot of credit because her enthusiasm has been pushing me through my training runs for this next half marathon. I wanted to sleep in badly, but knew the opportunity to run with her, would force a much faster pace from me. And the past few Saturdays I ran on my own, I missed her company. This was our last long run before the half marathon next Sunday. All day, I was so happy I got up and ran early, next long run is the half. Then suddenly, the conclusion seemed a little sad. Of course, this is what I've been working towards, but what would I do on Saturday mornings after next week? Sleep suddenly seemed irrelevant.
But life is like that, I guess. This week, is the last day of school for my children, Corey will become an upperclassman, Riley is reading and going on to second grade, Brian moves up to high school, Carter to Middle School. Many of my students will also graduate this week from pre school and move on to several different schools throughout the district, in so many ways, they are my kids too. It will be a week of celebration, a week of letting go, a week of reaching goals following a year of obstacles and some failures but still reaching the finish line with success. I am so proud of my boys, I can hardly find words.
By the time I cross the finish line on June 22, the chaos and the calendar will be clear, the meetings and the paperwork will be completed. All my children will have moved one step closer to their individual paths. Long training runs will go on the back burner until the next race. All of this chaos will end. I am aware that one day, my calendar will be mostly white, hopefully with notes of arrivals of my children coming to visit me. So when the chaos becomes overwhelming, I try to remind myself, "I am going to miss this, so take it all in now."
I thought of this yesterday running along the coastline with Robyn. My legs were fatiguing and my body didn't seem to want to move faster, but I couldn't be in a more beautiful place this morning and I just wanted to take in the moment, to be fully present and grateful for being exactly in the right moment in exactly the right time. "I am going to miss this, so take it all in now." I may or may not meet my running goals for this race next weekend, but I will finish with miles of memories of moments as treasures that can never be traded, bought, or sold. And I believe that is the real success, the real prize.
And despite our obstacles, failures, and losses over the years, I will finish with miles of joy at watching my children grow and flourish in front of me and there is truly no greater goal or joy for me than that.
There will be more miles, moments to soak in, goals to achieve. September will arrive quickly and sleep again will become sparse, but I've miles to go before I sleep and I am grateful for each and every step along the way.
But life is like that, I guess. This week, is the last day of school for my children, Corey will become an upperclassman, Riley is reading and going on to second grade, Brian moves up to high school, Carter to Middle School. Many of my students will also graduate this week from pre school and move on to several different schools throughout the district, in so many ways, they are my kids too. It will be a week of celebration, a week of letting go, a week of reaching goals following a year of obstacles and some failures but still reaching the finish line with success. I am so proud of my boys, I can hardly find words.
By the time I cross the finish line on June 22, the chaos and the calendar will be clear, the meetings and the paperwork will be completed. All my children will have moved one step closer to their individual paths. Long training runs will go on the back burner until the next race. All of this chaos will end. I am aware that one day, my calendar will be mostly white, hopefully with notes of arrivals of my children coming to visit me. So when the chaos becomes overwhelming, I try to remind myself, "I am going to miss this, so take it all in now."
I thought of this yesterday running along the coastline with Robyn. My legs were fatiguing and my body didn't seem to want to move faster, but I couldn't be in a more beautiful place this morning and I just wanted to take in the moment, to be fully present and grateful for being exactly in the right moment in exactly the right time. "I am going to miss this, so take it all in now." I may or may not meet my running goals for this race next weekend, but I will finish with miles of memories of moments as treasures that can never be traded, bought, or sold. And I believe that is the real success, the real prize.
And despite our obstacles, failures, and losses over the years, I will finish with miles of joy at watching my children grow and flourish in front of me and there is truly no greater goal or joy for me than that.
There will be more miles, moments to soak in, goals to achieve. September will arrive quickly and sleep again will become sparse, but I've miles to go before I sleep and I am grateful for each and every step along the way.
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