Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I Am Easily Moved


No, I'm not talking about my bowels...

I wear my heart on my sleeve. I cry at the typical, sad stuff but I can also cry at the beautiful, blue Carolina sky, at the steam flowing from the nostrils of horses grazing in a field, at a young person obviously enjoying being in the company of an elder, at hearing my daughter's laugh on the other end of the phone when it's been months since I've seen her in person, at some unprompted gesture or compliment from my husband, when my dad leaves me a voice mail message of ANY kind, when a patient hugs me and tells me thank you, when the blue birds leave the big bird house in the front yard, when I get the call that my folks have arrived home safely after leaving NC, when I receive an unexpected treat in the mail from someone I love to the depths of my heart...you get the idea. I am a sap and I cry.

I have a very special friend who lives in NY City. Right in the midst of all the hub-bub. Can walk to anything and everything. I recently asked a favor of her and she went above and beyond my request which is not the point of this post but still bears noting. I received my little treat in the mail today from my city friend and included in the package was an article written by New York Times correspondent Jim Axelrod. My friend thought of me when she copied this and included it with my surcee, which was enough to make me cry. But the article itself caused me to bring my hands to my heart...

I am training for a marathon that will take place in May. I am focused and dedicated to my routine and working hard at staying fit and healthy so that I do this correctly and without injury. I am working toward this for my own personal achievement and success. I'm not doing it for anyone else. I'm not doing it to prove a point but, instead, for the satisfaction of settling my soul. I expect this will be one of the most important, memorable days of my life.

I don't expect anyone to understand the lunacy of it all. I don't expect non-runners to understand what a good time for a first marathoner might be and as such, I hope they won't ask me or concern themselves with my time if I decide to even answer the question. That's personal and intrusive and misses the point.

So please, if you will, heed the advice of Mr. Axelrod and "on the Monday after Marathon Sunday, when you see me in whatever condition I may be in, leave it at "congratulations, that's some kind of achievement". If you really need to add something, how about "have fun?"

I will be in touch with my friend to let her know I received my goody in perfect condition and that I will giggle every time I wear it and, of course, think of her. But maybe more importantly, I will make sure she knows how much her "second thought" of including that article touched my heart and soul even more and how it will be at the forefront of my thoughts as I cross that finish line...because it will be some kind of achievement and I will have had fun.

Sniff, sniff...

4 comments:

Just Marianne said...

Joyce! I totally understand your thoughts. I've never run a whole marathon and have no immediate plans to do that (at least not at this moment, but never say never!) But I know what you mean by doing for yourself, a personal satisfaction. It's not a race between you and someone else. It's a race between you and yourself and the clock. Whatever your time is, will be wonderful and no one can take that away from you. To me it's not about winning, just crossing that line and knowing that I did MY best. That's all that counts! You're a winner in my book!

Brandi said...

:) <3 what a great friend.

Karen said...

hey joyce! i love reading your thoughts here...i always leave your blog with a tidbit to think about. i'll try my best not to make you cry, but if i do, i hope its from something nice! (and after the marathon i promise to offer extreme congrats and not to ask you if you had fun!!) k

Cindy said...

I can as well. I cannot even imagine such an undertaking for myself, but I admire you for doing so. And I think its about the preparation and the actual doing, the "journey" of it all.

Thank you for your kind words on my blog, I sent you back an email, but it bounced back on me. But I wanted to let you know how grateful I was for your kind encouragement and wonderful words, it meant allot to me. Thank you.

-c