Hitting Their Stride

Catching up on the backlog of photos and happenings...
The girls competed in the annual Interhouse Cross Country Match last month. This was their third attempt and they all did really well. Syd joined the cross country club and had been practicing diligantly. Her goal was to finish higher than she'd finished the previous year. Sarah really didn't have any goal except to run. Katie's goal was to finish the race.

The Junior School raced in the morning. I wore my Shackelton green with pride as we were defending champs. The girls set off first. My eyes caught Sydney first as she came over the bridge towards the finish line. She was in the top ten. As I looked behind her and couldn't find Sarah I became a bit worried. Suddenly, I saw a green shirt near the front of the pack. Sarah was in fourth and sprinting ahead of another girl as they neared the end. I'd been so focused on Syd, thinking all of her training would have put her out front. However, watching Sarah's easy gait as she strode across the finish line, I realized some are just naturally inclined to run. They both finished in the Top 10, with Sarah at 3rd and Syd at 7th.
Senior School raced in the afternoon. The other mums and I reminisced about last year's race and Katie's heroic efforts in finishing with the help of one mum running with her. A good friend actually went home between the races and came back with sneakers on so she could run with Katie. The race was longer and she was really worried she wouldn't finish, but I told her to just keep going slow and steady. And, that's what she did.
Once again, the theme from 'Chariots of Fire' blared over the speakers as she crossed the finish line. She was last, but she'd improved her time by several minutes over the course of the term and was quite pleased with herself. I was quite pleased with all three of them.

Have You Made Your 'Bucket List'?

Over the years, I've made all kinds of lists. Christmas wish lists, lists of favorite songs, lists of boys I wanted to date, lists of boys I wish I'd never dated, and even a "Freebie" list. If you've seen the television show, Friends, you know what I'm talking about. Currently, that particular list consists of Daniel Craig, Christian Bale and Alexander Skarsgard; 007, Batman and Eric, a thousand year old vampire. Other lists have been things I've wanted to accomplish at varying stages of my life. When I was twenty, number one on my list was to sing on a Broadway stage. Well, I didn't perform in front of an audience, but I did stand on a NYC stage and belt out a few bars. When I was thirty, number one was to start a family. Checked that one off two years later. When I turned forty, a new name appeared for my list. The movie, "The Bucket List" had come out the previous year. Was I really that old to be of the mindset that I was making a list of things I wanted to accomplish or see happen before I died?

I remember sitting on my bed with my journal in my lap. I turned to the back page and wrote in block letters, BUCKET LIST. With all of the packing and unpacking over the past few years, I cannot for the life of me find that journal, but I do remember at least half of my listed items. I also remember writing "in no specific order". That particular item seemed important at the time...not sure why. My thought process was probably something like, "As long as it gets checked off before I die, it doesn't matter if it's first or last". A couple are rather high aspirations, I won't go as far as to say they're pipedreams, but they're close. The rest are attainable in my opinion. In fact, I've already checked off four.

Sing with my daughter(s)- that occurred three years ago, when Katie and I sang together at church for Mother's Day.

Visit a foreign country- I did one better, I moved to a foreign country and have visited a few more.

Learn a new language- Trying desperately to learn Chinese, and am also picking up tidbits of German, and remembering lots of Spanish and French due to the smorgasbord of expat friends.

Stand on the Great Wall with my family - Not sure why I picked that particular Seven Wonder even before we knew we were moving to China, but it was kind of fortuitous. I got all emotional when our friend took a picture of our family at the entrance to the Great Wall, consciously aware another check was going to be made. (More to come about this experience!)

The rest will remain private. Private, that is, until I can check them off as well.

Ramblings

I must say I'm disappointed with myself. I'd planned on hitting one hundred posts this year, but at the rate I've been going the past few months, I'll never make it. There's definitely plenty of fodder to fill the pages, but time keeps whizzing by. When I first started the blog, I was working full time at Clemson University. I managed to update regularly...ok...so maybe sitting at a computer all day allowed me easy access. Being unemployed and in a new country should have given me ample opportunities to write. I'd even thought of writing a book. New topics presented themselves daily. How grocery shopping and defensive blocking are similar, the best way to get around China is in the back seat of a car with your eyes closed, the art of negotiating, or public urination...I mean REALLY public. Two years later, I still shake my head at the sights that initally shocked or scared the living bejeegus out of me. The book idea still tickles at my brain. Since I'm having a hard enough time trying to keep up with this blog, the idea will have to continue to tickle. Those who know me, know I have a tendency to procrastinate. Having more time on my hands did not allow me to do more, it just allowed me to put off things for greater lenghts of time.
Since rejoining the ranks of the employed and having my parents stay with us for three weeks, I've discovered a kind of frazzled focus, but focus nonetheless. The busier I am, the more I can get done. Yesterday, I taught five classes, baked and bagged ten dozen cookies for the Girl Scouts' coookie sale, did four loads of laundry, put up the Halloween decorations and had a decent meal on the table by 6:30. Life continues on, no matter in what country we find ourselves. Yes, things get extremely aggravating over here, like when I try to find sour cream at five different stores or when I pay close to $8 for a block of cheese or when I have to step over the fresh pool of pee made by the little toddler in the produce section at Auchen. Now, however, besides cringing, I file it away in my frazzled mind, wondering in what chapter it will fit.