I fell asleep last night thinking about this woman who jumped into yesterday’s race. Iworried that she would figure out it was I who ratted on her. I feared that she would read about my rant, track me down and throw eggs on my window during the night. This morning, the windows were still clean.
Today at school, another teacher and I had to talk to a young boy in her class about chewing gum at school. Now this little guy doesn’t really react to anything – good or bad. He just takes it all in. After reminding him about the gum rule, I asked him if he ran the 1K Fun Run at yesterday’s race.
“What?” he asked.
“I saw you at the race yesterday. Did you run?”
“Yeah.”
“And were you happy with how you ran?”
“Yeah.” (He isn’t much of a talker, is he?)
“And did you see me yesterday?” I asked.
His whole face lit up. “Yeah, you were fast!”
And we sent him back to play.
“Did you see that?” I excitedly asked my colleague. “He smiled!”
“Yes, that was great!” she replied.
In 3 years, I’ve never seen this boy smile. His classroom teacher had not seen him smile all year.
And, I will never forget the one on his face this morning. He was proud of me.
It’s moments like that which make running so worthwhile.
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It looks like you connected with that boy, pretty cool.
As far as the eggs, did you consider she both threw them and cleaned them up? It's very therapeutic.
that is awesome!!!
Love that story!
This is a GREAT story. Running inspires people – even the young ones.
I love that! So cool…running is definitely a people connector, no matter what the age/socioeconomic/speed distance.
Whew! Glad Rosie Ruiz Jr. didn't find you and egg your house. She's still hiding her face in shame. I'll be curious to see if you ever see her at a race again. Keep an eye out for her!
The student you were saying you haven't seen smile in 3 years…that makes me sad to read. That is unusual and I have to wonder why his heart is not filled with joy and happiness?