February 18, 2017

When I was a little girl, Stalee and I shared a bed.  At first it was a single bed.  That was the time in my family's life when we had five children in one bedroom, with two sets of bunk beds.  I definitely have memories of this, but I can't specifically remember sleeping toe to toe with Stalee.  But I do remember sleeping in a bigger bed together.  I've always been a bit of a night owl, and Stalee is not.  So pretty much every night, while Mom sat in the hall reading stories from The Friend magazine, Stalee would doze off.  Then Mom would turn off the lights and head downstairs.  The upstairs sleeping quarters would be dark and silent, and there I'd sit...wide awake.  And a little scared.  I don't remember when I first decided to do this, but I would reach over and find Stalee's warm, little hand.  And I'd hold it.  To this day, I can close my eyes and remember the feeling of her hand in mine.

I woke up feeling pretty good.  Today was going to be a big test of my running abilities!  I had told Stalee we should run six (or seven!) miles.  Even the drizzling rain outside my window didn't scare me.  If my stomach could hold out, we could do it.

But first.

Greg and Julia left early for Julia's three games in a row.  And I took Austin to his last game.  The Westons met me at Austin's game and we cheered and screamed as he scored his first five points of the whole season!  What a way to end it!  He'd shot a few free throws before but always air balled them.  Today he made 3 for 4 free throws.  It was really fun.  Then we rushed to the Washington Community Center for Julia's last game.  It was a nail biter!  And Julia was so tired.  But she played her heart out.  The last few seconds of the game, Julia shut them down, stole the ball and went the length of the court to score a layup and win the game.  We nearly cried; we were all so excited.  Julia is on the seventh grade Desert Hills team, and they were playing the eighth grade Desert Hills team.  It was super fun.

Austin and his team!

We headed home with all the kids so that they could play while Stalee and I ran.  It was lightly raining, so we bundled up and got started.  I immediately knew I was low on energy.  I started blaming my stomach sickness and doubting myself.  But Stalee kept running and talking, so I did too.   We rounded Stone Cliff mountain and started a steady uphill.  It was hard!  We just kept at it.  Pretty soon, it was pouring rain.  We just laughed and kept running.  By about five miles, Stalee and I were solving life's problems together.  We were mixing sweat, rain, and tears together.  Stalee kept saying, "This is really living!"  We were dodging puddles and small rivers, muddy spots and slippery spots.  It was awesome!  At the six-mile mark, we were nearing my house.  We both knew we could do it, so we kept right on running, past the house and on for another half mile.  And then a half mile back, dripping wet, we completed seven miles!  I hadn't gone that far since 2013.

Seven miles. Soaking wet.  Living life.

It's like when we were little.  It's like when I would reach over for Stalee's little hand.  Together, we are better.  Together, we can do it.  I'm a runner.  I'm back!