Teens and Running. It's All the Same. No, Really.

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Total Movement Mileage: 387.2 (running: 316.6 walking: 33.4; biking: 36.2) Elly's miles: 174.6  Money Found For Food Bank: $54.38

Summer 2016 Ultimate Pool Volleyball Championship - Best of 101:

Me: 9 Pit Crew #2: 5

Pit Crew #2 is currently texting with a friend who went to State for her 2-mile run. She's getting the rundown of the event, no pun intended. I told her to respond with the following: "And, in other news, I went running with my mom this morning. It was super slow and not just because of my mom but also because of my dog. Oh, and we rescued a turtle and found money. Do you see turtles and/or money on your runs? Then, I guess your runs aren't very philanthropic, are they."

I can validate myself in any circumstance. Just sayin'. Oh, and I don't need to put someone else down to do it like I did in the above scenario. That was just fun in the no-way-I'd-ever-mean-that sense!

Oh, here's the turtle. From the sidewalk, I barely saw its shell going up and down on the mosey:

Elly had to check it out before everyone parted ways:

So, with another turtle save this year, PC#2 and I carried on both with running and with our conversation. Sometimes, our runs involved general merriment. Other times, there's life stuff to sort out. Today was the latter. It kind of sucked, too, because the topic was heavy as was the air thanks to the heat and incoming humidity. It was like, "Okay, wait. This is hard stuff to talk about and sort through and I feel gross because of the heat and it's harder to breathe because the air is getting thick. Waaaaaaah!!" *sigh* But, the weather is to running as learning life is to teenagers. You take what comes, and you make the very best of what is in front of you. And, you keep an eye on an even better for-you-for-them future.

None of this is a complaint, by the way. It's hard as hell some days, but that's just a fact. It's not a complaint. I remember a very long time ago, even before I met Aaron, I told people that I looked forward to the opportunity to love kids through their teen years. There's a lot of dismissiveness when it comes to teen angst, drama, growing pains, drama (wait, did I say that twice?), and I never, ever wanted to get on board with that. I didn't like it happening to me. I was never going to do that to someone else.

As difficult as some things are, you hunker down, and you get down to business working toward productive strategies and forward motion. Running. Teens. Work. Marriage. Friends. Teens. (There they are again!) The method to success is the same. You commit. You work. You figure it out.

And, by doing so, you get to love.