My Biggest Fans!

I have the best parents in the world!  I know--a lot of you are out there saying, “No way, because I do”.  Truthfully, I wish that every person felt that way about their parents because that is how it is supposed to be.  But, with all that being said...I REALLY do!

During my school days, I would wake up to my bowl of Rice Krispies with the perfect amount of sugar on top already poured for me by my dad.  Milk on the right, Diet Pepsi on the left.  If it was cold outside, he would have already started my car to warm it up.  When I would mysteriously run out of gas, here he comes with his lawn mower gas can to get me home.  Tampons? Mydol?  A quick call to Dad over at Stultz Pharmacy and he would bring them home.  I was gently chastised, but then given a hug when my discovery of the awesomeness that is “Target” ran up quite a bill on my new college Visa card that was for “emergencies” only. (although, in my own defense, I STILL think that cute-colored plastic containers ARE emergencies)  On our home videos, you can hear him choking back sobs as they announce my cheerleading squad as national champions, and you can also hear him whisper an expletive when he thought I stepped out of bounds at college nationals.  And when my wedding budget didn’t exactly budget, he never said a word...

For those of you that know my mother--you are well aware that she is and always has been my biggest fan.  As her famous (infamous?) mustard-yellow nightgown with a duck so cleverly stated...my  mother “does not do mornings”!  And yet, week after week, year after year, she loaded me and all of my crap up at the crack of dawn for baton contests, dance contests, cheerleading contests, beauty pageants and so on.  She never missed a game and rarely missed a practice.  She drove my whole squad to Memphis every year for camp and spent hours walking around Lexington to find a heads-up penny for luck while I was in try-outs at UK.  I am positive that she cried longer than me when I had my first broken heart.  And when it became obvious that I neither knew nor cared what flowers, food, candles, etc. I wanted for my wedding, she planned the perfect day for me.  And now that I am on the Disney moms panel she is constantly promoting me on Facebook and even joined twitter to tweet about me!  She also traded in her yellow nightgown for a cute, pink Minnie Mouse one that also states “I don’t do mornings”!

This is my official request to have both of these Willed to me.

So, it comes as no surprise that last weekend when I was running the Tinkerbell Half Marathon by myself at Disneyland in California--it was those same two people that were cheering me on.  Sure, they were a full country away from me in their much-deserved retirement life in Florida, but they were still right by my side. Only this time it was through my iPhone.  I had signed them up for runner text alerts so they could follow my progress during the race.  Not that they asked me to, but I did it anyway!  I was not feeling well during this particular run, so the text messages they sent me truly kept me going. I was getting messages like, “You’re doing great!”...”Great pace!” (it really wasn’t, but they ARE my parents) ...“We’re so proud of you!”... and “Watch out Flo Jo!”...

Tinkerbell Half and Coast to Coast medals!

With two sons of my own, it is now my turn to play taxi driver, soccer mom, baseball mom, waitress, maid, nurse, chef, teacher, and so on...and that’s OK!  I love my life and my kids and would not want it any other way.  Running races is something that I do for myself.  I hope that it inspires my boys to be active and to set goals for themselves.  Running is not easy for me, so I hope they also see that sometimes you have to work hard to achieve things.  I love the friendships, the trips, the finish lines and the medals.  But I would be lying if I didn’t also admit that another thing I love about running a race is that for a couple of hours, I get to be the kid again.  There are people lined up all along the course cheering for all of us runners.  But the loudest cheers I hear, whether in person or through text messages, will always be from my mom and dad.  Sometimes my husband will mumble something about me “thinking I am a princess” or “me being spoiled”.  But I know that what I have really been is blessed!  Blessed beyond measure!  Now, I just wonder if my mom would be willing to pull out her "lucky hat" again for my next race...

The lucky hat at the Kentucky high school state basketball tournament.  She was also both of my brothers' biggest fan!