INVINCIBLE

 

You know when you look around your house and wish you had the magical powers of Samantha from Bewitched you’re going to have a long day. You know those days…for me it looks like this; the husband is on a business trip in a balmy 75 degree climate, library books are due, the garbage needs to go out, the house is a disaster, the kids have engaged in some contest to see who can make me say, “Mommy’s gonna lose it” fastest AND to top it all off… it is this particular day that my beloved elderly beagle decided to release all the valves that hold her together on my “save the planet” “made from corn” (supposedly stain resistant) carpet. And the kicker is, it is this week, that I need to attempt my very first 5K run (well…its 3 miles but close enough).

So, therefore… the theme of today’s post is going to have to be…dan danna da…“feeling INVINCIBLE” against the odds. It reminds me of the time my six year old ran around the house feeling invincible courtesy of his superhero strength (fueled by a cape made from his baby brother’s blankie.) He’d run around the staircase, through the living room and back into the kitchen, shouting, “bet you didn’t see me cuz I’m SO fast with my cape!” I absolutely loved seeing him that confident…that empowered like there was nothing that could stop him because he had on that cape. 

It was a good reminder of the kind of gumption I needed to muster to get through this week. Today, I headed back to my running class at the Y that I started last week. Early this morning, I was strongly against the notion of running at all, let alone, running with intent to move quickly. But, committed to the process and thinking of my motivation of Hannah (the girl I'm running the half in honor of currently living at the Youth Homes), I got myself dressed in the proper uniform and managed to get there with two of my three kids in tow.

First threat decimated…KA POW!

Now onto my second challenge…self doubt. Can I really do this damn class? What am I thinking doing speed work when I just started running anyway. Seriously, it’s a big enough deal to just keep moving…why the need to push it? I mean come ON! But I go in…the others in the class have made eye contact now…no going back. And we start our insane assignment for this particular week. Run 12 laps at a 5K pace (say wha?) THEN go FASTER for the next 8 laps, then faster for the next 6 and so on until you fall over. Okay, maybe she didn’t say until you “fall over” but you’re picking up what I’m laying down right? Anyway, even though I still have to master the art of pacing myself to avoid the notion of an accidental upchuck, I ran faster than expected. I beat my times for the most part and I feel pretty darn good for finishing the workout at all.

Second threat obliterated…WHAM-O!

Now to conquer an even more relentless and determined foe…naptime. It seems an impossible task getting both 8 month old and big sister to sleep at the same time without an outburst of sneezing and reflux from the afore mentioned beagle but the stars align and

SHA-ZAM! Sleeping children…foe successfully wiped out ( haha…get it…”wiped out”…yeah, I'm sorry)

Anyway, this Sunday I will attempt my 3 mile run with the Marathon training group and then next week, we will be doing a “St. Patrick’s Day Relay” in my running class (notice how my instructor Jo tries to make it warm and fuzzy by adding the happy go luckiest of holidays to the name)…but I know better…you can’t fool me…evil never rests.

Meanwhile…I could use a cape.

Hannah also was up against the odds this week facing a big challenge for her and feeling a bit "capeless."  Jessica, a youth care worker and Hannah's primary staff from Youth Homes Inc. writes this update about Hannah this week: 

Hannah has been "working on" a science fair project for at least the past two months. (When it is something you really don't like...or is challenging, the words "working on" are deceptive!! Kind of like "working out"...when it's challenging it's easy to to fudge a little.)

We have been doing our best to offer our help with each step, but unfortunately Hannah hasn’t accepted it or has claimed that it was already handed in. Hannah tends to skip homework instead of asking questions, spends a lot of time on easier assignments, and for the most part daydreams during her study time. The night before the science fair, we noticed that she had not put any effort into her project. When she was confronted on her progress, she immediately became victimized and shut down because it was too hard. She had already “completed” her study hour as well, so the thought of doing extra work seemed to be quite upsetting. As we asked her questions about her experiment, she was completely confused on how to make sense of the information she did have. Hannah was given attention and assistance from us to essentially re-do her project. We went back and asked questions in order to help guide her back through her experiment. As she started talking in detail about what she had done, she began to explain all the missing work on the project. Hannah began to realize that she wasn’t confused; she just wasn’t putting in the effort. We spent two hours with her, after her bedtime, to complete this project. In the end, it turned out great and Hannah was extremely appreciative of our help. Sometimes all it takes is patience, nurturance, more patience and someone willing to keep nudging.

This experience is important to share because Hannah has a very difficult time trusting caregivers. As we've mentioned before, it’s not surprising that Hannah is skeptical of us offering to help. She may not have had an adult caregiver spend so much time with her making sure she was successful in the past. As irritated as she was, we may have started to prove to her that we will be there for her even if she makes a mistake. Like most parents, we could not set her up to fail, so we pressed through as a group until it was completed well. We attended Hannah’s science fair and she seemed so proud! Hopefully in the future she will reflect on this and choose to do things differently.

Can success breed success? We are counting on it...