A Picture Filled with Memories

I found this picture in my office at work.  It was drawn by my then seven-year-old daughter who at the time was excited about Star Wars and her new Star Wars hero, Rey.  I love the little kid image of a person with arms coming off the body instead of coming off of shoulders.  When she drew it, I remember talking with her about the detail of Rey's triple ponytail hairstyle that she included with detail in the picture.  I also really enjoyed her depiction of BB-8  with the orange circle designs and ball shape.  

It brought me joy when I came across this picture that she had drawn 9 years ago.  I was instantly taken back to a time when my daughter was little and loved everything Star Wars.  It reminded me of when she would wear her  Rey costume for Halloween and any comic convention we would attend.  One time she wore a mash-up Rey/BB-8 costume to a museum event.  The museum had an exhibit on dragons, and she pretended that she was fighting one of the dragons.  Maybe she was pretending it was a Krayt Dragon!   

It is funny how things change.  She still likes Star Wars, but not with the same passion as then.  She has moved on to her own hobbies and activities.  She hangs out with friends now and is working her first job.  She is in color guard with the marching band, is a cheerleader, does pole vault, and is on the speech team. I love who she has become even if it doesn't still include weekly viewings of new Star Wars shows.  She just doesn't have time.  It reminds me of the truth in Cat Stevens' song, Cats and the Cradle. 

I hope her love of Star Wars and watching the stories return (maybe even in adulthood), but what is most important to me are the memories this picture brings back.  It made me sit back and smile.  Even better than that, when I showed her the picture I had found, it made her smile too.  She couldn't believe  I still had it, but she remembered drawing it a long, long, time ago, in a galaxy not so far away.    

Coaching

Sixteen years ago, I walked away from coaching competitive high school speech to move on with other parts of my life like becoming a National Board Certified teacher, starting a family, and trying triathlon and marathon racing among many other things.  Last year my oldest daughter decided to try out for the speech team at our high school.  I couldn't have been any more proud and excited for her when she decided to tip her toe into something that I was so passionate about as a high school competitor and coach years ago.  Not really to my surprise but to my complete pleasure, she is pretty darn good and just missed going to our state tournament in her freshman year.  With all of that excitement, I just couldn't help myself when an assistant coaching position opened up; I had to jump back in.  

I have to say that adding this to my schedule has not been easy and quite frankly, it has been quite exhausting.  Working with the kids, however, has been nothing short of pure joy.  I love seeing their faces squish up in doubt when I say, "try it this way."  And when they do, they are surprised at how it sounded or felt.  I love their willingness to take risks, to work hard in practice, and to build their skills.  We are just a month into the season, and we took a small team to their first meet in November.  I loved seeing the nerves of the first competition collide with their confidence after weeks of practice.  A few of our students saw success and some realized that "next-in-to-finals" feeling.  But, they all learned and had fun showing off their skills through performance and public speaking.  This is exactly why I decided to return.  Yes, I'm competitive, and I want the kids to be competitive too, but it is the life-long skills of public speaking that I want them to learn.  I want them to see that practice and taking constructive feedback brings growth and improvement.  

My daughter along with over half the team did not compete because they were busy putting on a musical that weekend, but I am so pumped to see her and her teammates go to their first meet in December.  Even though I don't officially coach my daughter, I get to talk to her about her speech and her delivery.  On a personal level, I am amazed at how much she has grown up in her 15 years.  I couldn't be more proud of being a coach on her team.  I love the sound of that.  I am a coach of HER team.  What more could a father want?  

I think of the students I work with and how much their parents have watched them grow over the years.   I think of the conversations that I have with them and I feel so privileged to be a part of their story.  I am glad I walked away to accomplish the things I needed to over the last 15 years but coming back now has been wonderful on so many levels.  

Running

I've never been much of a fan of running.  I realize this is a rich comment coming from someone who had a time in his life when he ran several triathlons, marathons, and half-marathons.  I am here to say it was less about the running and more about being able to say, "Done it."  I wasn't winning anything; I was just competing against my personal best time.  

But now I get to look at running from a new lens, and that lens is that of a father.  My youngest daughter signed up for cross country at her school this fall.  It is the first time she, or anyone in our family, has ever attempted this sport.  My older daughter did track last year, but I'm here to tell you, cross country is a different animal.  

Unfortunately for my daughter, she got her dad's ability, and cross country is more about finishing and trying to reach small wins.  Like her dad in his races, she isn't chasing a leader.  But, what is amazing to me, is this child doesn't really seem to care.  She is just loving being a part of these crazy kids who want to run 2 miles as fast as they can.  She loves the friends she is making, and quite frankly, she loves her pack.  And, I love that!  

As young parents, we have dreams of the great things our children will do.  We imagine Olympic medals or top CEO jobs, but it is amazing to watch all of the leading kids race by, and 5 or 6 minutes later comes my daughter, and that brings tears of joy to me.  I am so proud of her in her school uniform just working her ass off.  It is amazing.  I hope all dads get to experience this sometime in their daughters or son's lives.  It may not be in cross country or even athletics.  But to watch my daughter putting it all out there is just amazing.  

To find positivity in the galaxy, we don't have to look very far.  It kind of scares me as a dad that I will miss these moments.  Both of my kids and if you have children too, we know they do amazing things all the time.  Stop and watch.  I am so thankful for my daughter and thankful that she decided to give cross country a try.  Even though it is impossible to see it all,  I try to catch all the cool things my kids do, but I am glad my daughter caught my special attention when she started running.