Tomorrow

It was just over four years ago that I was lying in a hospital bed, fighting for my life. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with me, so they put me in the oncology wing. I slept most of the time. I couldn't keep any food down. I looked like a skeleton and had dark circles under my eyes. I endured so many tests. I had transformed into a human pincushion. I was so dehydrated that they had trouble taking my blood; the barely twenty year old lab techs had to stick me five or six times every test just to hit a vein. I remember one time one of the techs just came into my room and I burst into tears.

Lying in that room, I felt closer to God than I have at any other time in my life. I prayed a lot. I was edging close to the end of my life, and I had an overwhelming feeling that if I went, I would be okay. I had lived a good life. But I thought of my sweet husband. I thought of my three boys - six years, three years, and two months old. Still babies. They needed a mother. I had so much left to teach them. I prayed fervently to my Heavenly Father that I would get to raise my boys. And then, somehow, I knew that my prayers would be answered and I would live. The next day, the doctors figured it out - Addison's disease. Within a day or two, I was playing cards with my family, bored, ready to get out of bed and eat anything salty.

I'm not sure if I would trade that experience. I hate that it caused my family stress, especially Sparky. I hate that I did not have enough energy to be a good mother for months before I was diagnosed. But I don't take life for granted. I thank God every day that I am alive. The time with my children is precious. My time with Sparky is a gift. The little things don't matter as much as they used to.

When I was sick, and even just after I was diagnosed, I never thought I would be able to run again. But over the last four years, I've slowly built up my strength so that now I can run regularly. I do it for my kids. I want to be as healthy as I possibly can for them. Tomorrow is a big milestone for me. I'm running the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon - my first half marathon since my diagnosis. I am dedicating this race to my kids. I'm pretty sure that they are the reason that I'm alive today. And I'm so happy to be doing this race with Sparky. Everything is ten times better when he's around.

Spring Recital 2009

Saturday was our annual spring recital. I couldn't be prouder of all my students. Most of them had their songs memorized, and they all were so confident up there! Thing 2 did great, playing the much loved "From A Wigwam." He told me, "No mistakes, Mom!" when he sat down. And Thing 1 made me so proud; he played his first "real" classical piece, "Waltz in B Flat" by Schubert.

This year I did things a bit differently. First of all, I held this recital with two other piano teachers in my neighborhood, something I had never done before. It was really fun, and it was good for the kids to hear some older kids play "the real stuff." I'm hoping they gained a little inspiration, maybe enough for some practicing this summer? My fingers are crossed.

Something else that I did differently was that after much prodding by one of the other teachers, I performed a song. I hadn't played a solo at a recital since my senior year of high school. I was trying to decide what piece to play, and thought back to that senior year when I tried to quit piano because I was so unbelieveably busy, but my teacher wouldn't let me stop. I had learned all the pieces she had wanted me to learn that year except one - "Valse Chromatique" by Benjamin Godard. It's a great piece, but it's full of crazy chromatic scales (hence the name), and I just couldn't get some of the passages down in time for my senior recital. I ended up pulling it at the last minute and playing something else. It always kind of bugged me that I never finished that piece, so I blew fifteen years' worth of dust off of it and got to work. I didn't quite play it perfectly on Saturday, but I did it. Mrs. Martin, that one was for you. It was really liberating, like getting a splinter out that's been annoying you for a while.

Viking Fest 2009

Here it is, the post you've all been dying to read, my second annual Viking Fest post race report. I have been waiting for the chance to ask Sparky to put together the race video, but he's been busy seeing his brother graduate from med school (way to go Corn!) and other various things. I can't believe my blog doesn't come first in his life, but whatever. Luckily I have a wonderful friend who was there and grabbed a few still shots. Note Thing 3 ran his race before I managed to get the chocolate frosting from his doughnut off his face.

Here is a picture of Thing 1 and his friend, the one who convinced him to run the 5 mile instead of the 1 mile. These two have been friends since they were 3. Today at church, they both were wearing blue long sleeved shirts and ties, along with Thing 2 and Thing 3. I told the friend he fit right in with my crew - my four boys.

Here is one of Thing 1 and me pre-race. Look how excited he is to be in a picture with his dear mother. I am proud of him, though. He finished in 46:02, way faster than I expected him to finish. I was somewhat pleased with my time, too - 40:37. I'm a little bummed that I didn't break 40 minutes, but I did set a course PR, shaving a minute and a second off of last year's time. Next year I'll have to do a little speed work and see if I can get under 40! This race is so much fun. We had so many friends there and the course is gorgeous. By the way, I didn't forget about Thing 2. He had a baseball game that morning and missed the race.

Apparently I'm raising a mini George Lucas

Santa brought Thing 1 a digital camera last Christmas. I envisioned him taking lots of pictures with his friends, documenting good times. We recently uploaded his latest batch of memories to Picasa, and while there were a few random pictures of his friends and brothers, we had a lot of this kind of stuff mixed in:

Okay, so maybe he's not George Lucas.

I am a lousy mother

I am not the most supportive mom ever, and little league baseball tends to broadcast it to the world. I still believe that the best thing about little league is how cute little kids look in catcher's gear. Last year, I was bitter about the snack. Last week, we found out that Thing 2 made the baseball all-star team, and my first reaction was, "Aw crap. Now I'm going to have to go to more games!" Then I realized that normal parents don't react this way, so I gave a half-hearted "Go Thing 2, go!" to keep up appearances. I think there's something wrong with me. There's another family with a kid on this team that totally makes up for my lack of enthusiasm. They have their kid training year round, and they are really into the games. I'm pretty sure they would have been devastated if he hadn't made all-stars (he did). I think they're having a parade in his honor next week, and the paperwork is being filled out to make his all-star debut a national holiday.

Anyway, I was lying in bed this morning, thinking what a lousy mom I am, when Thing 3 came in for his usual early morning snuggle (or "snug" as he calls it). After a few minutes, he turned to me and said I was his best friend, which of course made me smile. I'm not a great mom, but at least I have my kids fooled!

Mother's Day Fun

On Friday, I found this video clip of Thing 1 at age three when I was searching on our computer for something else. I'm sure I knew about it at one time, but I'd completely forgotten about it. I think it was a particularly fun find since it was so close to Mother's day:




And since it is Mother's day, I'd like to thank all the women out there that are helping me raise my boys. It truly takes a village to raise a child. My kids have the best grandmothers a kid could ask for, and the coolest aunts. They've had the most wonderful teachers at school and church. And a big thank you to all of their friends' moms who I sometimes think they love more than me, including two of my friends to whom Thing 3 lovingly refers to as "his girlfriends." You know who you are.

Edit: I just made the video public - apparently I didn't do that before, so people couldn't watch it. Let me know if you still can't view it.

The 9th Ward

I found a new comic strip that makes me laugh - it's called The 9th Ward. Most of them are only going to be funny if you're LDS or are familiar with LDS culture. It's put together by a father/son combo. They produce about one strip a week. Here are a couple of my favorites: