Thursday, November 29, 2012

"I killed it"

Cross Country season is over...

I loved going & watching the twins run this year.  Their first year in a school team sport... hopefully not their last.

I loved standing on the sidelines cheering for these little kids.

They ate it up too.

I asked Sophia one time, "Did you hear me scream for you?"... Yes, she replied
"How did it make you feel"? ... she told me, "I liked it.  It made me want to run faster"

Yep...it really does.

Luckily, the girls are pretty good, so they were in the first batches of kids crossing that finish line.  Then they would head down through the "cattle line", as I called it, to get their rank number, take it to their coach & then off to their team tent, where popsicles were part of the reward. 

To a 2nd grader, popsicles are the equivilant of me receiving a medal.

I always would stay behind at the finish line...
I would keep cheering on these last kids.

I'm that kid...

When I run, I'm one of the last ones.  The sidelines are emptying out because everyone's loved ones have already crossed & no reason to stay to cheer the others on.  But even when there are a few people who are clapping for me, I'm like Sophia - it makes me want to run faster.

So I stay... & I cheer

& let me tell you - I think every.stinking.time  I would cry when the last child would cross.

Not because I felt bad for them, but because of their joy & excitement. 

They didnt care they were last.  They just knew they finished it.

One boy in particular really got me.

He was way behind.  I actually thought the last kid has come through, but saw that a man was standing down the way, looking over the hill.

Then this little trooper was chugging over & pumping those arms.

His dad started cheering him on & started running alongside him.  This father was in no shape to run either.  He was older, had a belly on him & had on work boots - not your sleek running type.  But the boy was going slow enough where the dad could hang with him.... & the dad just keep saying, "you can do it"

Other coaches & the timers saw this & everyone started cheering him into the finish.

When this little boy made it, I thought he would be a little sad - after all, there was no other kids around.  Everyone was celebrating with those popsicles.  Parents all went with their children.  There was maybe 20 people around the finish line.

To this kid, you would have thought it was like Times Square on New Years Eve...
his face lit up... & the cutest thing I've ever seen in my whole life happened...

He pumped his arm down, while kicking his leg up & looked up at his dad & said,
 "I killed it"...

...goodness gracious, I get teary thinking about it...

he was so proud of himself - didnt matter about anything else around him. 
Didnt matter his time
Didnt matter who was there

He just knew he finished... & he KILLED IT! :)

That little boy taught me something.

I'm going to try not to worry about the outside things... comparing myself to other.
I'm just going to focus on my race in life

I want my Heavenly Father to run next to me, cheering me on
I want in everything I do - to have the confidence of this little child
I want to have pride in all the things I do

& at the end of my life, I want to pump my arm in confidence & say too, "I killed it"

15 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. That was me up there...signed in under The Hubs account, oops!

    I love that you were able to witness this moment and share it with us. I needed to read your words this morning! I am going to share this story today. I love the example that this little boy and his Dad gave. Thank you for writing this. It was so beautiful!

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  3. Many lessons that we can learn from that little boy.

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  4. What a sweet boy and what an awesome Dad! Witnessing that special moment was…well…special. I used to cheer (scream loudly is more like it) until my son hit puberty. All of a sudden I embarrassed him instead of motivating him. Ah well. I still have my inner cheer! xo

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  5. That is beautiful...and just what I needed to hear this morning! Totally teary now! Thanks!!

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  6. This brought up memories of Brittany's years of running XC in high school. Though she was often one of the first to finish on her team, I always made sure that I stayed behind to cheer all the other girls on to VICTORY! I even ran alongside them for portions of the race. It was important to me that each girl believed she could do it...and they all did! It's all about finishing the race...not where you place...whether it be an actual race...or in life, in general.

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  7. Awwww...that brought tears to my eyes! One of my sisters ran a half-marathon one time, and she said by the time she got to the finish line, nobody was there, they had taken the ribbon down, packed up and gone home. She was more than slightly disappointed.

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  8. There have been the most inspiring stories on the blogs today! Thank you for this one!

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  9. Wow ... that story just gave me goose bumps! What a wonderful reminder to us!

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  10. "I killed it," now synonymous with "Well done my good and faithful servant." I love it!

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  11. I love this post. I want to be able to say "I killed it" too at the end of my life. Thank you for sharing.

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  12. I just love this, JoJo!!!!!!! :) One of the things I love most about you is your such an encourager!!! :)

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