this really is ad nasueam about my kids. i know. i just can't write about the amazing protein bar i am subsisting on (KIND sea salt), or my OOTD, or even sticky emotional stuff. i continue. so, charly, that girl. the facts of it are she took second in the state in both hurdle events, only behind the freakishly fast senior Tiana Bonds. in her relay she is always the anchor (last runner) and the reason the team does so well. they were also second in the state. she also qualified to run the sprint at state but got disqualified for a false start; that really hurt her heart. she called me crying, but then a couple hours later ran her 300 hurdles like a gazelle. speaking of gazelle...
she is also on the track team the nevada gazelles. this team is headed up by randall cunningham. this name meant nothing to me a month ago. i did not ever watch sports growing up. i pretended/tried a little when i was dating to care about sports until it was too taxing. i guess cunningham is a big deal in football. his two high school kids are a big deal in track, and he wants charly to train with him. so, i get to have brother cunningham in my life 4-5 days a week. he is a pastor of his own church now (which has always been a crazy notion to me to start one's own church). he pushes charly hard. her body is a strong machine that every coach wants to be part of at this point. colleges are already asking around about her (but legally can't approach her til after her sophomore year.)
this is not me bragging, because it is not me. i am not down on that track hurdling, that would be so silly to see. it is charly. yes, she is my daughter, but the ridiculous truth about children is that they are not OURS, they are not US...we just take care of them and serve them for awhile. it seems like a raw deal on many levels. but, hopefully my life will have meant something by the fact i have produced five wonderful people. right?
i went to a tears for fears concert with my brother at the old aladdin theater in my late teens. the lyrics "welcome to your life. there's no turning back" hit in a teenage angst way of realizing that childhood was almost over, blah, blah, blah. The song was on the other day and it hit me in a middle age crisis kind of way that there really is NO turning back. i will never be the 15 that charly is now. man, i would love to go back to 15 though knowing what i know. but i take what i have learned and the mistakes and successes and pass them on to my spawn. the efforts i have put into having char have a different existence is paying off. hallelujah.
at the track banquet i hid my tears of joy (which was not hard since her, her boyfriend and friends were sitting no where near their parents. le sigh, see! some of that raw deal i was talking about above) as she was first awarded MVP of the hurdle team; then she was awarded MVP of the whole girls track team. mmmmm, charly, good job.
end note: with the two competitors she has in the state keeping her from first place being seniors, next year she will be on the top of the podium in three events: 100 and 300 hurdles, and the 100 sprint. watch for it.
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