A Conversation On Running

 



O: Can I run for miles tomorrow?

Me: What do you mean?

O: I want to run like, lots of miles.

Allen: Like, 50 miles?

O: Or 60.

Allen: So, just running all day tomorrow?

O: Sure. I can just wake up then run all day until it's night.

Me: What about school?

O: Can I skip it tomorrow?

Allen: I'll tell you what. We can get up really early and I'll run with you until you get tired.

O: So, all day? So I CAN skip school?

Allen: We'll see how much you want to run.

O: So, can we pack lunches and stuff and take them with us?

Me: You could probably swing by the house and take a little break at lunch time.

O: And then we can go run again?

Allen: If you're up for it.

O: So, does running mean running straight?

Me: Nope, you have to do cartwheels and somersaults while you run.

O: Okay.

Allen: And you can go up hills and around corners and back and forth and stuff.

O: Okay. What time will we leave?

Allen: Bright and early.

O: Okay.

UPDATED: The next morning Little O came upstairs with a piece of elastic on his head, like so:



because "This is what running people look like, right?" He was ready to run 100 miles (he upped his goal). Allen rode his bike beside him as he ran continuously for a solid 30 minutes. Then he came home, changed clothes, and went to school.

Everyone Is Awesome

 



I was having one of my typical trains of thought this morning. 'Typical' meaning that one random thought leads to another and then I'm thinking about something completely irrelevant and strange for the moment. It kind of went like this...

I need to make a call to get some things taken care of for the wedding luncheon in a couple of weeks.

I need to look again at the list of people coming to the wedding luncheon.

I need to find out for sure if Allen's brother and his wife are coming to the wedding.

One of my best friends from high school and her mom are flying in for the wedding.

I wonder how my friend's mom's health has been.

Her dad has bad health, too. I wonder how he's doing.

He has always been kind of a tough guy to live with. Well, not just kind of. He can be frustrating and even absolutely infuriating. But when he dies I will definitely want to go to his funeral.

(That last thought brought tears to my eyes.)

What is it about him that makes me emotional when I think of his eventual death?

What kind things would I say about him if I had to speak at his funeral? 

I would say that, on the surface, he can be pretty rough around the edges. But man, can he cook! And I always love being fed by him. He loves to cook and he loves to see people enjoying his food. Food is kind of his quiet love language and he speaks it well. He has always made me feel welcome in his home. He was even ok with me living there for a while. He is a lot of fun to play games with. Usually he wants to play card games, which I'm terrible at, but when we'd play Win, Lose or Draw or Pictionary... oh, man, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard! He loves his kids and is proud of the good things they accomplish. He can be generous and even kind and thoughtful, I've experienced all of these things myself. He can be quite intimidating, but when you get to know him he's really just a big teddy bear.

And once again I was reminded that there is good in everyone, despite what is seen on the surface.

You can find the awesomeness in everyone if you look for it.

Let's be good to each other.