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Reading, Running, and Squeezing in the Kids

The other day the kids and I went to the park. There was a small cluster of jungle gym equipment provided amoung the hills of lush grass and shady trees. My kids went down the slide once or twice and the rest of the time they spent running through the grass with their shoes off. They spent a lot of time petting a little-not-so-old ladies dog, named Sam and talking with the lady. I enjoyed watching them so much so that I barely read even a page in my book. I just sat beneath a shady tree and dug my toes into the cool grass. I got up a few times, once to meet Sam and his owner and a couple of times to chase the kids in a game of tag or to scoup them up while I'm still strong enough and their small enough for me to do it effortlessly. I want to be a mom they remember as yes a reader, but also one who put the book down to run through the grass and hang like a weakling from the first rung of the monkey bars (O.K. so I can't get any farther). I like the fact that our kids know that Adam and I are active and enjoy doing things with them and not only watching each other, but joining in things together. The other day I had fallen asleep on the swing watching Adam and the kids play and Adam told Sebastian he needed to wake me up. Sebastian said, "No, daddy stay and play, don't wake up mommy, you are just going to run." That broke my heart. I was already feeling selfish about running, thinking that it was just taking up to much family time. We won't be training for a marathon again for a while. We can keep up our physical fitness, and enjoy an occasional 5K with the kids. We want to enjoy them while we can. I know our kids are only 4 and 6, but I also knowt the 6 years I have had kids have flown by. Heck, when they are in college I will only be in my forties. I can run marathons and read War and Peace then. Until then, after the marathon that I've already trained 5 months for we will only run for fun and fitness and read books that I can put down and run away from to catch my kids on a grassy hillside in a Summerlin park or wherever our journeys may take us.

posted by MrH @ 3:41 PM