Darn It!

I wrote a blog, and now it's gone. I have no idea where it went, but you should know it was brilliant. Brilliant! I'm too tired and frustrated to do it again or start over with a new topic, so we're both going to have to be satisfied with this paragraph.

Ya, I'm not either. I'll try harder tomorrow.

Run, Matthew, Run

Today, he finally did.

I was getting a little tired of seeing him finish behind kindergarteners at the running club races after school. I hate to admit it was disappointing and frustrating when his entire class would finish about ten minutes before he did. I didn't want to be like the parents who shout, "Don't leave anything in the tank!" towards the end of the race, but I was really starting to worry that my boy was turning out to be lazy. He could run it, but he wasn't trying at all.

But today, at the Ostrich Festival run for all the district's running club participants, he finally ran hard. Maybe it was the race atmosphere. Maybe it was the bib on his shirt. Frankly, I think it was the cooler morning temperature and low-in-the-sky sun that didn't suck the energy out of his body. Getting up at 6:15 on the first day of spring break was worth it.

Matthew yawning through the warm-up.

Looking strong at the finish.

It was a very fun morning, and I appreciate the Chamber of Commerce allowing all the kids to race for free to encourage active lifestyles. Lots of kids showed up. In fact, they announced that there were 500 kids in total. I'm not sure exactly how many students were from Matthew's school, but we're hoping to hang on to the participation trophy that they won last year. I estimated there were about 40-50 kids that I recognized. He had a good time with his friends, did his best, and Elizabeth and I were there to cheer him on. Great fun!

One of the Best

Last week, my friend Aimee asked for song suggestions to load her phone for her half marathon. She was in search of tunes to motivate her and to also make her think of friends and family while "their" song was on.

I thought about it for days. I always come back to the no-brainer suggestion that gets me going every single time from the opening breathless "yeah." This song is a red guitar on fire, man. Love it.

Enjoy one of my all-time favorites on this last day before spring break.

Maybe

...the reason our country's students lag behind in math and science globally is because they have to learn all these seemingly random units of measure.

Matthew brought Gallon Man home the other day. He said, "Mom. They ruined Superman. Look how dumb this is."

Sadly, I had to agree. Are any of the presidential candidates promising to switch us to the sensible metric system?

No? Why not? A mile is 5,280 feet. Why? I'm not exactly sure but it has something to do with furlongs. Yeah. Ok. Of course it does.

Getting Schooled

What I learned today while substitute teaching:

There are way more clefs in music than the treble and bass.

I'd realized awhile ago while subbing in orchestra that the viola had a different clef, but it wasn't until today that I took the time to Google it and learn more. It's an alto clef, and it's not the only clef I'd never heard of before.

Subbing. If you want to be challenged, humbled, and far more educated, just do it.

Redemption is Sweet

My pal Aimee ran a half marathon two years ago. It wasn't a good day. She was hurting, she was struggling, and the experience was not only grueling in the moment but also deflating in the end. We've all been there. We sign up for something we hope is going to be so fantastic, it's not, and then we're disappointed. Naturally, she wanted redemption.

Fast forward to yesterday, and she was ready for her second attempt at the half marathon distance. Her training was going well up until the past month or so; that familiar doubt started to rear its ugly head, but she was excellent at pushing it down and pushing it away. Though not cocky, she never let herself lose hope or too much confidence. She kept going despite some obstacles and got a little more rest than she had anticipated, but she never let the challenges break her spirit.

And yesterday she had what might have been the race of her dreams.

She showed up happy and healthy. She showed up ready. She showed up confident. And that's exactly how she ran.

Jessica and I hitched a ride with Aimee's husband and son to cheer her on, but she and I did not do what Gary did. He ate a doughnut whilst people were running past! I could never. It takes a confident soul to do that. hahaha

We saw Aimee around Mile 6, and she looked fabulous. She was smiling, giving a thumbs up sign, and also not stopping for anything. We waited an hour for her and saw her for all of thirty seconds before we jumped in the car to meet her at the finish.

When we saw her round the bend right at Mile 13, she was still looking strong. Tired, yes, but still strong. Her smile wasn't as big as before, but I imagine as soon as she crossed that line one tenth of a mile away as the clock read 2:23, her smile was big again. As it should be.

She was very pleased, proud of herself, and we are all very proud of her. I know firsthand how sweet redemption can be, and I'm so glad she got to taste it, too. Way to go, Aimee!

Let's Talk Politics

I'm currently undecided as far as the presidential election goes. One thing is for sure, though. Those Republican candidates are not my cup of tea at all. None of them. Not even one in that dwindling list of candidates comes close to persuading me to vote for them, and I feel a bit sorry for Republicans. That's the best they could do? What a pity. On the other hand, as a Democrat I'm relieved. Then again, there seem to be a lot more crazy Americans that I thought there were. Donald Trump is still in this race? He's leading?! Gosh, my plan to move to Canada if he becomes our president might actually come to fruition.

However, I'm not looking at real estate in Beautiful British Columbia just yet. I have hope that our country is filled with more reasonable people than unreasonable. I sure hope so because moving to Canada sounds like a lot of work. Though, I'd do it even if we have to live in our Airstream, because I do not believe that he will make America great and I do not want to live in a country that elects someone like Trump as our leader.

Since I currently live here, though, I must vote, so I took an online quiz this morning to see with whom I side. It's quite an extensive quiz. It brings nearly all the issues to the table and it even allows you to add your personal level of importance to each. If you're unsure whose side you're on, I recommend taking it. But don't simply check "yes" or "no" without first reading through "other stances." Also, there are far more questions than what are shown so I recommend you click on "show more questions" to can get a better read. You can take the quiz here: I Side With Quiz.

I answered the entire quiz thoughtfully and carefully, and I hit "learn more" when I wasn't exactly sure what the question was about. My results show that I side with Bernie Sanders on 88% of the issues, and I'm with Hillary Clinton on 86%. I thought I sided with Hillary, but maybe I'm feeling more of the Bern than I thought. Either way, it's a very close call and I need to bump up my research on both. I know one of those two is the person for the job, and I thought this would be an easy vote for Hillary until Bernie jumped on the scene. My father checked out two anti-Clinton books for me from the library that I will read with a grain of salt, and then I'll read up on Sanders. Thankfully, I have a few weeks.

With any luck, she will chose him as a running mate and so many of us will feel good about it.