Monthly Archives: May 2014

Split Seconds

Posted on May 19, 2014 | 3 comments

Splits. If you run than you know what they are. If you don’t, it’s simple. It’s a unit of measurement (typically a mile) that breaks down a run into smaller parts. Ran six miles in 54 minutes? Your average pace would be 9 minutes per mile but your splits might be all over the place. Mile 1: 10 minutes, Mile 2: 9 1/2 minutes, Mile 3: 8 minutes and twenty seconds and so on.

But there is another kind of split – the split second. I became a mother in a split second. One second I was in labor and the next second I had a baby in my arms. One second you have a full bucket of water and the next second you have water all over the floor.

This weekend I was running down the side of the road, towards traffic, like you do. One second I was running and doing math in my head (a quarter of a mile to the light, turn and head towards the house, one mile down hill and I will be at an even eight when I get home) and the next second I heard the screech of brakes and the smash of bumper on bumper. I spun around instinctively and my eyes started to well with tears. Behind me there were two more runners, my running partner and her teenage daughter. We were all okay.

Three runners. Two teenage drivers, one that hit his brakes abruptly before turning and another that was following too closely. Five people. Two drivers. And three runners. We were all okay.

It has been four months since Meg Menzies was killed by a drunk driver while out for her morning run. I still think about her every time I cross an intersection, every time I turn to look behind me and every time a driver waves back at me. I breathe deeply and I know I am safe. In this split second that I whipped around and counted two more runners I knew we were all safe.

Meg Menzies wasn’t okay. And I haven’t forgotten. When I run a long run on a Saturday morning and I zigzag across a few roads here in town I think about her. I am extra careful. I wave at the drivers and I run towards the traffic. I wear bright colors. She was extra careful, too.

Be safe. And be grateful. Everything can change in a split second.

3 Comments

Posted in Parenting

Tagged megsmiles, running

Unsolicited Parenting #2: Virginity

Posted on May 15, 2014 | 17 comments

If you happen to listen to Madonna while you do the dishes and your 8-year-old daughter happens to ask you what a virgin is – be careful what you tell her. Don’t tell her that a virgin is someone who has never done “something” before or else she will loudly announce “I am a virgin!” whenever you enter a store she has never been in or eat a meal she has never had before.

And maybe you’ve already anticipated this – but I was rather taken aback when my sweet 8-year-old daughter shouted “I’m not a virgin anymore!” after she left the store and after she set down her fork.

It’s my recommendation that you go with a more specific explanation of the word “virgin” when your child asks you. And since I am no longer an “Explaining the word virgin to your sweet daughter” virgin – you should really take my advice.

17 Comments

Posted in Parenting

Tagged advice, Dear Emily, Parenting, parenting advice, sweet daughter, virginity

Happy Third Anniversary, MQD!

Posted on May 1, 2014 | 15 comments

I got lucky. I met a super boy that became a wonderful man and we got married. And then I got really lucky and all that worrying I did about being able to get pregnant turned out to be for nothing and we made a honeymoon baby.

So, wedding anniversaries tend to disappear in a mess of kids and baby and soccer practice and mother’s day and my birthday is next week, anyway.

But lately I have been thinking about how important it is to stop and take a breather and honor the marriage that the rest of my life hinges around. We’ve got a good thing. So, it seems easy. But a marriage needs to be fed. Nobody likes a hungry marriage.

Sunday afternoon, after my race, I asked MQD if he wanted to go out and grab a pitcher and some burgers at The Wooden Nickel and call it our Anniversary Dinner.

As evidenced by the sippy cup behind the pitcher, we had company. But she came home from our honeymoon with us, after all. It didn’t bother me to have her tag along on our Anniversary Dinner. We laughed and talked and we fed our marriage.

Nobody left hungry. Cheeseburger plus fried egg plus tater tots plus beers equals a happy marriage, FYI.

We’d planned on eating dinner at home last night. I would pick up cupcakes from Sugarland (they did our wedding cupcakes!) and MQD would grab sushi from a local place and we’d lay low. And then I got lucky again. The stars and the soccer and softball schedules aligned and my kids were invited to eat dinner with my nearest and dearest and her family. With the kids out of the picture I had to amp up the Wedding Anniversary Shenanigans. Quickly.

Wedding Dress plus Apron equals a sweet surprise. MQD called to let me know he’d picked up dinner and asked what I was up to. “Just playing with the kids and waiting for my husband like a pretty princess.” MQD He thought I was kidding.

“When are you not just hanging around like a pretty princess?” I had mentioned wearing my wedding dress all day for our anniversary but evidently he didn’t think I would bother. He got out of his car and we met him on the porch as we often do, only I was a wee bit more glam than normal. I opted to switch up my greeting from my typical still sweaty in gym clothes “Dinner is almost ready, I am taking a shower” and went with a “You have ten minutes to change your clothes, kids are having dinner across the street. We are going out for a drink, home to eat cupcakes and we can have sushi after the kids go to bed?”

Three years and counting and he still rolls right along with my nonsense.

From our wedding vows (and Tom Robbins’ Still Life with Woodpecker)

“Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words “make” and “stay” become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.”

Thank you, nice lady, for taking our picture in front of Mystery Brewing Company! And double thank you to the nut that asked us if we were going to prom when we ran into the store to grab beers on the way home.