When Do You Become a Runner?

My daughter (I like to call her that, although she's not actually mine) asked me if I would like to write a post for her blog www.wholeironwoman.com as a guest.  I told her, "Sure, why not!  I'll have something for you tomorrow."  Well, that was two days ago, and I as yet have nothing to give her.  Here's the reason;  her blog is all about running and cycling and swimming--mostly running--and I'm not a runner!!  I mean, I don't think I am-yet.  I would like to call myself one, but I hold runners in such high regard, that I don't know if I'm worthy yet of wearing that title.

 Here's my story:

Six months ago if you asked me if I ran, I'd say you were crazy for thinking such a thing, and that anyone who ran was crazy.  I mean, why would anyone want to run when there are perfectly good cars sitting in the driveway??  I had NEVER in my 44 years of living on this earth even thought that I would ever run.  I had a bad knee, my ankle gave out in a sixth grade game of kick ball, it would make me sweat.......you get the picture.

Then my friend Melissa told me about her son, Jacob.  He has  Becker's Muscular Dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disease that only affects boys.  The recessive gene, from what I understand, is carried by the mother only, and Becker's is one of the rarer forms of MD.  Anyway, Jacob is only 7 years old, and the sweetest little boy you could ever imagine.  His outlook for a normal life is not good.  I don't even want to write about statistics.  Too depressing.

Melissa told me that she was going to raise money on behalf of Jacob for the Parent Project for Muscular Dystrophy by running with a group called "Run For Our Sons."  She told me that she would be running in the Rock n Roll St. Louis Marathon on October 23, 2011 in St. Louis.  "Would you like to come?  We'd love to have you," she said.  Well, she had me at "Jacob."

I don't think Melissa knew that I was anti-running.  And I didn't really have the heart to tell her.  I just wanted to do what I could to help Jacob's cause.  I wanted to raise money.  That was my goal.

And so the WALKING began....

Who Are You?

Or "What do you do?" might be more suitable, because after all, isn't what we "do" who we are?  I mean, when I first meet someone, the first thing I do is exchange names and go right into "What do you do?"

I sometimes struggle with answering that question.  Usually the struggle is more intense when I'm feeling like I don't really have a purpose or something "important" that I'm currently involved in like volunteering at school.  I mean, who wants to do laundry, clean the cat box and make dinner?  Is that what I want my answer to be when someone asks me what I do? Are those things really all that important?  Does that make me who I am?

When I was in my early twenties and just finishing college, I was always sure to point out to the people I met that I was a college graduate and that I would have a career in the near future.  In the meantime I was making ends meet by working in a retail clothing store and making sandwiches in a sandwich shop.  I also worked various jobs with a temporary employment agency.  I was a filing clerk, a mail-room worker sorting out and delivering mail at a large corporation, and a receptionist at an insurance company.  At the time, I felt "less than" because I didn't have what I thought were important jobs.  They were menial.  They didn't matter.  They were the behind-the-scene support jobs that didn't get recognition.  I continued to tell people who asked that I was in the process of looking for a career position and that these jobs were only temporary.

But isn't everything temporary?  Each moment--oops!--you just missed it.  There goes another one.  And another.  Time is passing with each breath, never  to be experienced again.  Really. 

You know that career position I was looking for while I was working all those temporary jobs? Well, I found it!  And guess what?  It was awesome!!  Guess what else!  It was TEMPORARY!   What I mean is that I worked at a wonderful company for six years, and then I quite and got THE best job in the whole world (being a mother), and I don't care anymore if the position I hold is one of status or financial or educational merit.  At this particular job I don't get paid, I sometimes think I stink at it, and lots of times I feel totally unappreciated and unwanted.  But it's also where I get the meaning of life, and why I get up every day with renewed hope in my future. 

What I do temporarily today leads to other things that are temporary today.  And that is how we become who we are today.  Forget about tomorrow.  It will come with all of your today's temporary moments.

So who am I, you ask?  Or more accurately, What do I do?  I am a person who tries to remember every day that what are my temporary circumstances in life are a constant, and the greatest thing about all of it is that I can change my circumstances and thoughts and attitudes about them in a heartbeat! I also remain thankful and humble that I am able to think and feel and be whatever I want!  That's who I am!  Who are YOU?  Think about it for a moment...........