Okay, most of you know my Mouse has been sick. We took her to the doctor on Friday and she has a sinus infection. I knew she needed to see someone when she kept complaining because she is not the complaining type. She is typically the one that keeps going anyway...and for most of last week she did. Even though she couldn't stop coughing at times, she made it to every cross country practice and ran at least a mile if not two. She went to school every day and kept her homework up. I was very proud of her for that. But, nothing could compare to what I saw yesterday. She only had one dose of antibiotics and the cough medicine made her very sleepy so she didn't want to take any yesterday...the day of her first cross country meet...ever! She was up and ready to go yesterday bright and early (even though she slept on my chest Friday night during the fourth quarter of the game). She went to her meet and there I was utterly amazed at my Mouse. The course was two miles long and it was a lot of rough terrain with a great deal of mud since we finally got some rain down here. She started off a little slow but, she quickly found her pace. We spread out along the course at different intervals to cheer her on. When she came up the hill and around the corner and saw me there, I could see she was really winded and exhausted but still had about a mile to go. She started to slow down and almost went to a quick walk but, I encouraged her to stick it out and finish. Her brother saw her and started to run beside her for about 300 yards telling her to keep going and not give up. I moved to the next bend in the course and saw the anguish in her face and I would have been quite alright had she just walked the rest of the course but, she didn't. I told her to finish strong and she picked up the pace a little. She saw her Dad and sister waiting at the finish line and she even passed a girl or two coming in to the home stretch. She was exhausted at the end of the two miles but, she finished. She had to use her inhaler a few times and still had trouble catching her breath but, she finished. There were other girls, even the ones she runs with every morning at practice that just gave up and walked the rest of the way but, Mouse finished. Out of a field of about 60 girls, she came in 26th. She finished just 6 out of the medals. This was her first race, she felt like dog poo and she did great! I was so proud of her. Not because she placed so well. I was proud of her because she didn't quit....she didn't stop...she didn't give up even when she had every reason in the world not to even be running in the first place. She reminded me why I call her Mighty Mouse because she is just that...mighty. She reminded her Mom of something very important. No matter what else is going on, you need to stick it out and just finish. Life isn't easy and it can throw a lot of curve balls at you but, you still have to finish. There is no quitting, no giving up, and no regrets. You leave your heart and soul on the course...you simply just finish.
A very proud Mom,
xOxO
Pandora
2 comments:
You should be proud, your daughter is amazing. Just a reminder! She is just like you!
I am very proud of her....not so sure she is just like me but, I do see a lot of similarities. I hope she learns to moderate her need to be a caretaker!
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