"I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance."
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| Ian and Beans - 5th Grade |
Today was a day off from training. A good thing too because my legs were tired. I think the run and new core work must have taken more out of me than I cared to admit at the time. I must have still been on that thing called "runner's high". But today, the high was more of a low. The timing was good for a day off because today was also Open House at my son's school. Ian is in 5th grade and loves math, art and music. My role at his school today was twofold. As a member of the School Board, I was a greeter for the parents coming to visit and a tour guide for those that are interested in having their child attend the school. My first role was easy and carefree. The second part was when I went down to his room to observe what the students were working on. When I arrived, the kids were working on an art project and it was interesting to see what they were drawing. Then, it happened, the teacher asked the students to put their projects away and line-up with the parents to play Sparkle. Sparkle is a spelling game where each student takes a turn spelling a word one letter at a time. After the word is spelled correctly, the next student says "Sparkle" and the person after him is out. A simple game, right? Okay, so this is 5th grade and we are playing a spelling game and all of a sudden my competitive spirit comes in. I no longer see the kids as sweet and innocent. They are now the enemy and I'm not going to let some 10 year old take me down. (What am I thinking? Relax, relax.) Nope, couldn't do it. I wanted to win this game. Why? I'm not sure, except for the fact that I hate to lose. Well to make a long story short, I got through 3 rounds. Spelled the words correctly but my luck ran out and I was Sparkled to my seat. Turning a bad situation into something good, I joined the students in cheering on their classmates who were still in the game. No, I didn't stomp my feet or cry because I lost. I sucked it up, gave my son a kiss good-bye as I left the room and headed back to my school board duties. By the time I was leaving the Open House, the kids were lined up for recess and ready to get outside. Looks like they had already moved on past the game. Me, I still wanted to win. Maybe I should take a lesson from these oh so very wise10 year olds.
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