Most days when I pick up Owen from preschool there are 2 worksheets in his cubby. ( he has his own cubby, how cute is that). One is the “art activity” of the day (aka a coloring sheet), and Owen’s is usually mostly blank. The other is his daily report. It lists what they learned, what books they read and anything else they did that day. The bottom is my favorite. It has 3 categories: Today at lunch I….. Today at rest time….and finally My character today. It then gives options like “ I ate everything”, “I wasn’t hungry” , “I slept”, “ I was quiet” and then for the character list …Today I was “ attentive”, “mischevious”, “followed directions”, “lively” and many others. I look forward to reading it and sometimes question if they are really talking about my kid ( his always says he slept, ate everything and followed directions………3 things he never does at home). I have started wondering what people would circle about me at the end of the day, particularly in the character department. Was I patient and loving? Did I notice a need around me……..or was I grumpy, tired and stressed. I wonder how much we would alter these 3 basic things: what we eat, the amount of rest we get and our character if we knew we were getting a grade?
Tonight I went running with a friend ten years my junior. I asked her how far she was running and when she said only about 1.5 or 2 miles, I teased her that I could go at least twice that far. And to just let me know when she needed to stop. I have been running pretty regularly for the last few weeks. It isn’t long but keep increasing my time and distance. I’ve stopped getting blisters. I don’t suck wind after five minutes anymore and I was feeling pretty good about myself. Thinking I might even be able to out run this girl who was so much younger and obviously in more shape than me. As we started to jog I told her that I run pretty slow. Like my husband used to walk beside me while I ran, slow. And she slowed her gait a little bit for me but it was still faster than I usually go. I was a little embarrassed and was not going to ask her to slow down again. So I just ran at her pace. I stayed close. And was fading fast. A little over a mile in I was ready to quit. Again, pride, which isn...
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