Running is one way that I have spent many hours of my life. I started after I had my second child and became a fanatic after my third child. I am like the turtle, though I never win the race. Since I don't run fast I decided to run far and that has meant lots and lots of hours, usually just me and my IPOD and my mind that never turns off. Over the years I have come up with a lot of running parables and decided I better start keeping track of them before the lessons are all forgotten. In high school the worst torture I could imagine was that one LONG mile that we had to run for our fitness test. After about 2 yards I would get a cramp in my side and be certain that I was going to die any minute. After kid number 3 I got this brilliant idea to run a marathon and I began running following a schedule. I learned early on that cramp or no cramp I had miles to cover and that I had to keep running anyway. I learned something amazing, you can run with a side stitch, a broken toe, the flu, hundreds of mosquitoes attached to every part of you not covered by clothes, depressed, worried, ligaments ripped out in a knee, with a headache...you get the idea...No matter what you can run!
I think this particular lesson has been invaluable to me and boy am I using it right now! I have a cramp associated with parenting! I am tired, I have a headache, I feel broken down, I am certain that I should be doing better, I have a pile of laundry on the floor that I am afraid to tackle certain there is a monster hiding underneath it (we have been camping for a week), I am remembering what life is like with a a baby who is mobile and can and will get into everything (I spend much of my day fishing stuff out of his mouth so I don't have another child who needs to have a penny surgically removed from his throat, I have already had two), are you getting my point? Back in the old day this would be a signal to me that it's time to check out. With the help of my running parable I can see that now is the time to grit my teeth and dig in! I can parent even with all of these cramps in my side and hopefully, just like when I run after a few miles (sometimes as many as 10) it goes away and that runners high shows up, here's to the parenting high that I just know has got to be in there somewhere!
