Hard Stuff

I don't live on a farm.

Granted, sometimes it could pass for a zoo. And, according to my dad's old saying, my children obviously think that they live in a barn because they are always leaving open the doors.

Be that as it may, there aren't a lot of opportunities for my kids to learn to do hard things. Not like when I was young. :-)

I remember my parents put in the yard of our house. As they chose to live in the rock farm which is called Highland, I remember picking up TRUCKFULS of rocks before we could plant the grass.

My grandparents also owned a fruit farm, so we carried TONS AND TONS of peaches from the pickers to the sorters. We weeded flower and vegetable gardens. We planted and harvested acres of corn.

Now that I think about it, we were virtual slaves! :-)

But, we learned to work.

Like I said before, though, I don't have a farm. So, we've had to come up with other ways to teach our kids to do hard things. Coincidentally, we found a way that we could teach them this lesson AND ride our bikes at the same time.

It's a talent, I know.

Mike told us a while ago that he wanted to do a 20 mile ride this summer. We found one called the Jared Hess Cancer Foundation ride. They closed down the Legacy Highway for the morning for a 20 mile out and back ride-- perfect for kids.

This is us at the start of the ride-- in all of our Lycra-clad glory:
Here is Emalee. We expected her to struggle a little bit, but she surprised us and led us out nearly the entire race (once she warmed up up after a couple of miles!)
Here's Doug-- he rides on a tandem attached to the back of my bike. He and I ride together quite a bit. (Well, we did before I had to send him to kindergarten last Thursday. I'll have to post about that trauma (for me, not him) one of these days...)

Here's our little Michael with his chicken legs that are so scrawny that his spandex bike shorts are actually BAGGY on him:

Poor Michael-- he struggled. Before we were even 8 miles in, he was already having a hard time. At one point, he started crying and I asked him if he wanted to quit. He said no. I thought about trying to bribe him with a new video game or something, but that "be a good parent" voice in my head told me that he needed to push through this on his own, just for the satisfaction of finishing. I prayed for him, distracted him by talking with him for miles and miles about what Wii games he'd like for Christmas, and finally we got him to the end.

Here's Doug with his medal. I love riding with him-- he's such a cutie! They were running a half marathon at the same time, and Doug would yell to all of the runners we passed (who all looked miserable, by the way) "Good Job!" or "Way to go!" If he saw cyclists stopped on the side of the road, he'd yell and ask them if they were okay. He's such a good kid.

Here's Michael with his medal. When you figure in entry fees, gas, dinner and hotel for last night, etc..., this little goal of Mikes probably cost us $300 or so-- but every cent was worth it. I don't know how else you could give a 7 year old such a sense of accomplishment. I was so proud of him for sticking it out!

Here's my daughter-- who I decided rides just like me. She doesn't like to ride behind anyone. She will kill herself to keep her brother from passing her. She speeds up when she sees a "Wabbit" in front of her. I'm super-proud of her too.

You never know if the lessons you try to teach your kids really sink in. I know that our kids will have to do hard things in their lives-- probably much harder than the things that I've faced in mine. I can only hope that experiences like today will get them through.

And if not, at least we had fun, right?