Accomplishments

My friend Bob wrote about accomplishments on his blog. I'd hyperlink to it, but My Mac is stupid, so here's the link instead: http://everyeveryminute.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/accomplishment/. (Can't even hyperlink that! Grrrr.)

So this Accomplishment thing is a meme called "My Turn/Your Turn". I decided I'd join in--especially since Bob's entry was about his racing (running) anniversary...

The question at hand:
What’s an accomplishment that you’re particularly proud of? How did you go about achieving it?

Survey says:
I have 3 general accomplishments that I am quite proud of.

#1. My babies. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a mom. If we could swing it, I
would love to be a stay at home mom, but it's just not in the cards for us (unless we manage
to win the lottery, which will be tough since we rarely buy tickets). I didn't really enjoy
pregnancy, and labor and delivery were okay-not something I want to do on a regular basis,
by any means. And there are many, many moments when parenting is not fun or easy. But
all of that aside, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Every time my kids make a good
choice, hug each other, play together nicely, make me laugh (which is very often), my heart
just about leaps out of my body. There are moments when I can barely contain myself
because the love I feel for them is so overwhelming. I realize that this is truly the way a
parent should feel about her child. But the more I work with high school kids, the more I
realize that in too many situations, this is not the case.

#2. My marriage. In a day and age when so many people think of marriage as being
"disposable", Caleb and I are still going strong after 10+ years. We're best friends. He's my
biggest fan, supporter, and co-conspirator against the kiddos. Plus, I don't know how our
household would manage to chug along without Caleb the houseboy. Granted, I made a
super-good choice in the marriage department, but it takes more than just hitting the
jackpot. All of the days after the wedding take a lot of hard work and commitment. We both
do that (perhaps him more than me sometimes...guess I need to work on that).

Disclaimer: I do not actually refer to my beloved husband as "Caleb the houseboy".
At least not legitimately.

#3. My running. Not to be a total copycat, since this is actually what Bob wrote about, but
I'm very proud of my accomplishments in the world of running. I hated running in high
school. It was the worst part of playing basketball. I couldn't stand going to conditioning
each fall, because I knew I had never put in the time getting into shape over the summer. I
was always the last one back from the mile. I was always the one who made sure that thee
rest of the team had to run extra drills because I didn't finish the first one quickly enough. It
was AWFUL!

So, I'm not 100% sure what possessed me to pick up the running in 2008. I do know it was
part of my New Year's Resolution that year. I had finished being pregnant and nursing the
little ones. But, unfortunately I was still eating like a breastfeeding mom, which means I was
racking up the extra calories. But I was doing nothing to burn them off. So, a few days
before Jan. 1, 2008, I decided we were done paying for a Y membership that didn't get used.
I made a point of getting 5-6 workouts in each week. I swam, did the elliptical, lifted
weights, rode the bike, you name it. But mostly, I used the treadmill. I did a combination of
running and walking (my own version of couch to 5K--I didn't hear about those programs
until after I had taken up running on my own), gradually working my way up to running a
half mile. Then a whole mile. After a few months, I was up to 3 miles. Then 4. Then 5.
Each time I saw a bigger number on the distance gauge, I felt a new sense of
accomplishment. And I started seeing smaller numbers on my clothes tags. And that was
what mattered to me. Come Dec. 31, 2008 I had finally kept a New Year's Resolution!

Fast forward to Thanksgiving 2009. I received a phone call from my little sister as my family
was driving to my in-laws for the holiday. She had just given birth to my niece a couple
weeks before this night, and she was interested in doing something to shed the baby weight.
She wanted to know if I was interested in running the St. Louis half marathon with her.

I believe my exact response was something along the lines of, "Are you high?"

But then, as the weekend went on, we were all talking about running and doing races. Now,
my brother-in-law and sister-in-law were referring to 5Ks (3.1 miles), but the idea of the half
was growing on me, and shortly after we got home from celebrating Thanksgiving, I
registered myself for my first half marathon.

I spent that winter and spring training and preparing. By race day, I was ready (with the
exception of the injury). I ran my best time to date on a half marathon. In a couple of weeks,
I will run my 5th half marathon. This fall I will run several more halves. They will be a part
of my training. On December 3 of this year I will be running in the St. Jude's MARATHON in
Memphis, TN.

So, those are my accomplishments. Funny thing about accomplishments...It seems that achieving a goal compels me to create new ones. It also calls for reflection. How well have I accomplished these things? Are there things I could do better? Places that need improvement? Of course! Humans are imperfect by nature. So, while I might achieve my goal, next time around I need to up the ante...make it tougher: be a better disciplinarian when I deal with my kids and stop letting them get by with some of the mean things the perpetrate on one another; be a better wife-pick up more of the slack at home and do more to show my husband that he is loved (besides try to keep his undies clean); run faster, run farther. These are all things that I can and will do. It's nice to be successful. But in my mind, it's even nicer to realize that there's always room for improvement.