Patiently

In 2016 my son ran cross country.  When he first mentioned that he wanted to join, I was a little surprised.  This boy had a hard time running one lap around the track with me.  Now he was planning on running three miles?

That summer he worked hard!  He had set his goal and he was going to reach it!  And he did!  He just kept improving all season long and he did great!

This year he signed up again, but it was obvious that his heart was not in it.  He and I had a heart to heart talk.  I told him that I completely understood.  Sometimes there are goals that you set for yourself, and when you reach those goals; you just don’t need to continue any farther.  He had even witnessed me, his mom, have a goal like that.  I had decided years ago that I wanted to be a Zumba instructor.  I went thru the training and I passed!  I even got certified to teach Zumba to kids.  I had some regulars in class and had fun with it.  When I stopped leading classes, it was primarily due to kiddo schedules.  But I could have made it work if I had wanted to.  I was just pretty much done with it.  I had attained that goal and was ready to move on.

I assured my son that it was ok to quit.  I believe he was in the second or third week of practices.  They were weeks from any meets.  And it just really was ok.  But, I had a stipulation.  I told him that he had to pick something else physical to do.  I told him I didn’t care what it was.  It didn’t have to be a team sport.  It didn’t even have to be a sport.  He could decide to take up  cutting up trees in the backyard (well, not really because I like my trees.  But you get the point), I didn’t care; it just had to be something that was going to challenge him physically on a regular basis.

He thought about it for awhile and told me that he was interested in doing the American Ninja Warrior things that we had watched on tv.  It was not anything that I had thought about for him.  But, ok, we hopped online and found a few gyms in the area that offered this type of thing.  We read reviews, checked out pictures, and facebook feedback.  We picked the best looking gym.

Then he had to wait!  We were in football and cheerleading season!  I had zero available time to drive him to this gym!  He waited patiently.  He really did.  At the end of the season he asked about it.  I told him he had to give me a week or two to relax from the past two months!  He waited patiently.  And tonight was finally his night!

I’ll tell you, there is just something about watching your child doing something that excites them!!  I was sitting in the “parent section” watching him try and try again.  He fell down a few times.  But he jumped right back up.  He was watching the other kids.  He was trying hard.  And a few times, when he was looking around, taking it all in, he smiled.  He loved being there!  And he did pretty darn good for it being his first time there too!!

Tonight I am thankful for the opportunity to take my son to a place that has him so excited!!  We came home, hopped online, and signed up for more classes.  This is a good thing 🙂