Began writing 9/4/2015- as you can see it took a bit to get it edited and published. **Sorry**
Going outside for a walk has become a daily habit for my little 2 1/2 year old, Jonathan. There is not a day that goes by where he is not running to my husband or my lap with his shoes repeating the words “Outside. Walk. Go outside. Shoes. Outside.” As he has gotten older, the way he has asked has been different but the idea remains the same. All that to be said, I think we’ve created a good habit in him.
Last night was special and much different then the rest of our walks though. It was late, and as we were grabbing jackets for the little boys, Jeff decided to go downstairs and have Ryan come walk with us. We bundled up (as crazy as it sounds it felt more like a November night then a September night) and headed out the door. Jonathan jumps on his yellow car, holds on to the wheel and begins kicking his legs, pushing him forward, as the rest of us trail behind. We get to the end of our road and began turning around when Ryan lays down a challenge.
“Ashley race me?”
“What? Where?” I said.
“Just race me. Not far. Come on.”
After a few more remarks and a final decision we come to the conclusion we’ll start at one end of the block and run down to the light pole at the other end of the block. Ryan starts to prepare himself by taking off his jacket and handing it over to his dad.
“Are you going to get into a position to start?” Ryan says, delaying his desire to do so.
“Yeah I guess.” I say, realizing this is a lot more serious then I initially thought.
By this point Jonathan has gotten ahead of us, driving along on his car. I get into position, while Ryan drops down to the street in a runners stance ready for dad to say go. I begin to question why this kid is no longer wanting to do track and but quickly get to the realization I better actually work hard on this race.
“Ready……Set………GO!” Jeff says as Ryan and I take off. Jonathan ahead looks behind, as he sees his mom and big brother catching up to his vehicle. Next thing I know Jonathan is turning his car around and driving in my line of where I was running. I slow down, sadly, trying to get out of his way, when he gets in my line again. By this point this race is over because Ryan is WAY far ahead of me. Again I wonder why he does not want to do track anymore because he certainly has the speed.
“JONATHAN WATCH OUT!” I yell to him as I finally get past the bulky vehicle he is driving and try to catch up to Ryan. Not a few moments later, Ryan has passed the light pole and the race is over, but I decide to catch up with him and congratulate him, while trying to excuse Jonathan slowing me down as the reason I lost. Truth be told, that kids a sprinter and even if I had my best game face on, I think Ryan would have still won. I smiled as the quote came to mind that our kids will use our ceiling as their platform. Ryan, unintentionally is doing this for sure. We turn to look back at Dad pushing Nathaniel in a stroller and suddenly realize Jonathan is no longer on his car. He abandoned it and got up, running towards us, as if the race wasn’t over yet and he was a part of it the whole time.
“Jonathan!” I yelled with excitement. “Come on! You can do it!” I jump over so I am in front of him as he continues to run towards us. The closer he got, the more Ryan and I cheered him on. He finally makes it over to us, but does something both of us weren’t expecting, he doesn’t stop. As he runs around me, I stand up, never taking my eyes off him, and call his name again now with a questionable tone. Almost as to say ‘what are you doing?’
He keeps going.
Ryan and I were laughing while he was headed towards us before, now we both stood there probably wondering when he planned to stop.
He doesn’t.
He gets far enough ahead of us that I realize, I should probably catch up to him. I ran up beside him and look at him as he is intently focused on whats ahead. So much, that I don’t even think he knew I was running by him. We had two more blocks before we made it back to our house. I began to wonder if he was going to make that his stop. I started to cheer him on again since its only a little further away, got ahead of him to direct him to the house. I make a obvious hit on our vehicle in the drive-way, almost to say “Here is our finish line. Hit it and you’ll be done.” I watch him run up behind me and hit the vehicle too. I praise him and ask for a high five when he does another unexpected, HE KEEPS GOING! In my amazement, I stand back for a second and wonder how we didn’t find this passion sooner, along with realizing how we need to continue to encourage this now. We pass our house, pass our neighbors house and start going up a hill. I look back and realize how far back Ryan, Nathaniel and Jeff are, so I say to Jonathan, “Hey Jonathan, let’s turn around and head back to Daddy.”
“Okay!” He says in-between breaths, and just like that, he turns around and starts heading towards the guys.
As we start running back to them side by side, I look down at his determine face and almost break into tears. Sounds cheesy I’m sure, but work with me.
It’s a moment I’m never going to forget and here’s why. I’ve seen pictures before as I’m scrolling on Facebook that say something like “Thought about quitting, but then I saw who was watching” and it’s a child watching their parent going for a goal they have. I have always been touched by those posts, but this was a whole new level of understanding. I was actually experiencing it. Running beside my son who isn’t even three and not giving it a thought to stop inspired myself. We met up with Ryan, Nathaniel, and Jeff, but only for enough time for everyone to turn around and follow Jonathan because he would not stop.
“Come on!” He yells and suddenly my son is cheering US on. It was a powerful moment to realize, your kids pay attention, and they will not only match your place in life, but exceed it, if you create the atmosphere to do so. My boy knows whatever he does, we will cheer him on and encourage him to go after it. Just like all the other kids, we want them to accomplish their dreams. It is hard work? Of course! It’s even hard for us. But I’m thankful to know that because of us paving the way all our kids can go further than us. It was a parallel moment last night. Just moments before I was racing my 15 year old step son to then running side by side with my 2 year old son. Almost helping me see what it’s going to be like in 13 years. I’m thankful that we are starting with Nathaniel and Jonathan young, so that when they do get older they will always believe that anything is possible.
It’s never too late to begin and its never too early to start. As parents, lets continue to follow after our dreams to give our kids permission to go after theirs.
Ashley Wheeler 