Why?
Whoa - busy, busy day, is why. One visit to the sick, one trip for a 3 year old's b'day party, and one guitar lesson to three very precious and adored younglings.
Of course, the usual "healthy foods" went out the window (after a protein breakfast, that is) but that's the price you pay when you carry said three year old around for several hours and attend their party.
Wouldn't have missed it - not a bit of it - for the world, twice over.
Besides, when else do I get to tweak my sibling about the fact that as much as she herself may have not wanted to be like me or my brother, her children take after one, the other, or both of us ? Ha ha, she's never gonna get away from us!
And...today...my oldest nephew (and her oldest child) very proudly took me by the hand and brought me to the mirror.
"Look at us!" he told me as he swept his hair the way I do then pulled my face closer to his. "I look just like you--cool, right?"
So I looked as he asked me to, and he was 100% on the money. "It's super cool," I agreed and hugged him.
"Mamama [that's what they call my mom, their grandmother] has to take our picture -- Mamama! Come take our picture!"
I laughed, and my mom, awesome as she is, did so.
"Next time, let's take another one with our guitars, ok?" he asked.
I know why he did.
See, we made a promise to each of those kids: at the age of 8, they receive their first guitar. It's acoustic, because that's the best way to start learning, but other than that, they get to pick whatever color and style they'd like.
My beloved, beloved nephew adamantly wanted the one that looks just like mine.
His mom told him about his aunt training for the triathlon and he's so excited, he wants to come bike riding with me. He will - not a long ride, but a small one, a fun one. And I'll bring him to the pool, too, since he asked so enthusiastically.
What the heck, right?
He may not directly be my son, but there is absolutely no mistaking that he is absolutely blood of my blood and bone of my bone.
I will take him running, I will teach him how to play, we will go out on bike rides (I gave him his first one, too ), and I will show him the difference between a dive and a racing start, and how to hold his breath through a flip turn.
Knowing just how much he looks to me as a role model in his life -- that was so very much worth spending the extra time with him and his brother and sisters and tweaking the tweak.
As important as the training has become, he--and the rest of my family--will always have a higher priority. And during tomorrow's run, I will focus, and I will push, and I will stretch myself, building from potential to actual.
And I will figure out how to teach that to those little ones.
