Mom, I’m running a half-marathon
November 10, 2008 | Family: Nurturing Family
I’ve been gone every weekend for the past two months, or at least it seems that way. This weekend I was in Disney, OK and Fayetteville, AR. Last weekend Ohio. On Thursday I drove to Tulsa. When Ryan called and said, “Mom, what are you doing next weekend?”, my initial thought was “staying home!”
He reminded me that he and Kristin are running a half-marathon. They’ve been training for a few months. Ry has lost 15 pounds and gained a ton of confidence in what he can do.
But I still hesitated, partly because I still have road fatigue. And then he said:
“It’s been 10 years mom.”
Ten years. Ten years since I got the phone call in the middle of the night that my son had been found lying half-in and half-out of a small Ranger truck on a lonely dark highway after a drunk driver slammed into him and two friends.
Ten years. Ten years since I stood by the cat skan tech who counted: one, two, three…ten, eleven, twelve.
“What are you counting?” I asked, shivering though it was warm August weather and just the right temp in the small, stuffed Radiological room.
“Broken bones,” she said casually.
I almost collapsed. It was my son in that machine. My son with thirteen fractures from the waist down. My son, the athlete, who lived, breathed, ate, slept basketball and track.
Ten years. Ten years since we lived in a small hospital room for six weeks as Ryan healed, his right leg in a cast. His hip and pelvis in traction — six breaks and three in his hip alone.
Ten years. Ten years since I brought him home in a wheelchair weighing 128 pounds at 6′ 2″. Ten years since he went through rehabilitation for a year to walk with a cane, then to walk without a limp, and then to walk and run.
Ten years. Ten years since we cried together the day the therapist said he would probably have arthritis at a young age. (It didn’t happen.)
Ten years. Has it really been that long?
What will I be doing next weekend? I’ll be in the crowd cheering on my now 25-year-old son as he crosses the finish line–running.
I’ll be the one cheering (and maybe crying a little, too).
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YES Ma’am! You should be there. Wahoo! Thank you God for victories in our lives.
I’m so happy for him and you.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pmWe’ll be cheering for him down in Alabama, too!! (And I’ve already pulled out the hankie!)
Go Ryan and Kristin!
Yaay God!!
Awesome story.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:08 am