Elena 
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1. Last fall, at the end of year pizza party for the cross country team, three of Rosie’s teammates received the award for Most Improved Runner. Rosie was left out.
The very next day she told me that she was determined to win that award this year. She ran into the late fall. She ran all during track season. But what helped her the most was running all summer long, every day, with her big brother’s cross country team. Every. Day.
And that’s something for a little girl to run with the big boys like that, but she did it!
This fall, it paid off. She took major time off of her 1 1/2 mile race and even came in third one race for her age group. For the championships she even kept in the top 10 and won a medal.
But the award she really wanted, didn’t come until a week later – and she wasn’t disappointed.
2. Noah got his name in the paper last week as his team won the City Championships in High School Cross Country. He has worked so hard these last three years of high school running.
His first year he wasn’t allowed to run because he was a homeschooler. His second year he had to catch up to the guys who had already trained a year. In the spring of that year, he suffered a stress fracture and couldn’t participate in track. Last spring he broke his clavicle and had to take time off. And both times he had to fight his way back.
He broke into the 17s this year and continues to improve. Even if he doesn’t make it to regionals, I’ll be proud of him.
3. Izzy is the best aunt ever –
She displays love and patience with little Miss C that I think is beyond her years. And those two love each other – very much. It warms my heart to watch them.
4.
We have my sweet granddaughter about 27 hours a week. She goes on the homeschool hikes with us every week and she also played with the cross country kids at their practices. She wants to be part of the group and she is not intimidated by older kids or adults. She is so good natured, she makes friends wherever we go – which I think is going to be an asset as she gets older.
5. I think I know what Rosie should consider as a career – sales. Last week she had to give a talk on Vitamin C at her co-op and she said, “Mom, I think I should bring those fruity necklaces and earrings Izzy made – I think they will sell after this talk!”
She understands marketing!!
6. On the other hand, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I am slowly moving away from medical transcription – a job that I love but is slowly going the way of other careers -like buggy whip makers. Then suddenly, out of the blue, I got an offer to take on more transcription work for six months until this office transitions over to the electronic medical record. So should I try to prolong this career for as long as possible, or go with my original plan of gradually transitioning into something else.
My sister and I had a frank discussion about this. I would really like to do more public speaking – possibly even as a career. But it’s tough to be taken seriously at my age because I’m over 50 AND in this country, younger people don’t want to listen to older people. I wish I were Chinese. But I’m not.
7. So I really welcomed this blog post – Why you should Befriend An Older Generation! Maybe there is hope yet!