Saturday morning I went for a run. Not out of the ordinary for me.
But this one was different.
I was staying at a hotel in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
We were there for the state track meet where Ryder and his team were competing.
Friday we celebrated their first-place win in both of the relay events.
And it also just happened to be my 47th birthday.
It was a fantastic day - one of the best birthdays ever, for so many reasons.
Saturday morning was overcast, but the temperature was good for running.
I didn't know the area very well, but the road was called Circle Drive, so I figured it would work for what I needed.
I started out slowly and made it about halfway around the circle before it started to rain. A light sprinkle, not a downpour at least.
As I ran, rain gently hitting my forehead, I thought about the track meet.
And how exciting it was to watch my son round that corner and blast past the other guys to cross the finish line.
I thought about the look on his face when he came off that track. The work he's put in to get to where he is today.
I thought about how many times he'll run that same track as he gets into his college career this coming year.
And I thought about the other circles we've run in life.
Fourteen years of trips back and forth from school to home.
Ten years of trips between his dad's house and mine for pickups and dropoffs.
And more times than I can count making that circle trip to his room and back for a goodnight hug before he drifted off to sleep.
I ran seven times around that circle on Saturday morning. Just over 3 miles. A good way to burn off some of the bad food choices I had made!
And lots of time to think.
Sometimes life can feel like we are running in circles, Going around and around the same loop, not really sure how to get off or where we are actually headed.
What we don't realize is that the scenery is actually changing.
It's just hard to see while we're moving.
When we get to the end of our run and look around us, it's all different.
The kids are grown, we're all of a sudden a lot older than we feel, and lots of people have come and gone from our lives.
We've covered a lot of miles without even realizing it.
And if we take a moment to pause and be still and reflect, we'll see that the good times far outweighed the bad ones.
This run around the circle of life is tough.
But it's also beautiful.
Enjoy it.
Visit my author page on Amazon
Or find my book at Barnes and Noble
And at our local Oconomowoc Bookstore - Books & Company
Comments