Special Olympics: The effort is WAY more valuable than the outcome.

I had the perfect Mother's Day weekend! We had Jack's second round lacrosse playoff game to attend as well as Molly's Regional Special Olympic Swim meet the next day. Mother's Day is typically the day in Colorado where we are told that it is safe to finally plant our flowers and bulbs. This year it snowed up to a foot in some higher elevations! There was a collective moan heard far and wide across the state. It was the perfect excuse for me to stay in my PJ's ALL DAY and watch game after game of college lacrosse on ESPNU from the sofa. The boys shoveled off a section of the deck to grill yummy burgers for dinner for me and Jack cut up a fruit salad.  Really I've learned that anything is delicious when someone else makes it.  Watching my kids participate in sports and being fed by others are two of my favorite things in life! Thus the perfect weekend!!

Since I'm learning to not put any energy, thoughts, or efforts into negative things or people that bug me, I'm not going to even try and find the words to explain the ugly parent behavior of the #1 lacrosse team in our division. Suffice it to say that I was left feeling very disturbed by the state of high school sports and the ugliness that parents can portray even if their team is winning by a hefty margin. Their cheering that a boy on our team might have a serious head trauma ( there was a 3 minute penalty awarded the offense) just made me turn clear around in my seat to see who would act that way? Good sportsmanship (and humanity) is disappearing from the sidelines and it makes me very sad.

Luckily, we had this the next day.

Parade

Molly is in purple.

Juxtoposing Molly's Special Olympics Regional swim meet down in Pueblo was the refreshing dip into happiness that I needed to revive my belief in the good of humanity. We gathered at 9 am with the rest of our little Dolphins team dressed in purple. There were at least 20 teams from southern Colorado all there for the track and field events as well as the swimming. You have to participate in the Regional events to qualify for the State events held clear across the state in Grand Junction a month from now. In years past, during the opening ceremonies, everyone would walk one full lap around the track holding their banners and slowly trudging along. It took FOREVER. We were pleased to see that this year they only walked  1/4 of the track, as they paraded by us in the stands for photo ops, and then back tracked to the start.

Molly was entered in the 25 m and 50 m freestyle as well as the 50 m backstroke. Her freestyle looks like a breaststroke, so I'm still not clear why she's not entered in that category, yet she took first place both times? Her darling backstroke looks like a frog on his back about to drown, however she took second place in that!! She swims with a huge smile on her face the entire time and rarely sticks her face in the water. I don't think that I saw anyone with an actual flip turn at the end of the pool. They touch the wall and turn around to head back. Some even stand and jump off the bottom of the pool in the shallow end as they launch themselves into their final lap. All of these things I'm sure are illegal in your typical swim meets. Whenever any athlete got up on the starting blocks to dive, it would catch my attention, as most athletes start in the water. Diving is a pretty complex skill when you really start breaking it down so very few Special Olympians dive. I was touched by the efforts of those that attempted. There were a few smacking belly flops, as well as some that went straight down (thus not giving them any sort of distance advantage on the whistle). One fella looked like a giant upside down U as both his feet and his hands entered the water at the same time. Picture yourself touching your toes and then just hopping into the water in that position. Cute. I also loved the girl that kept her reading glasses on and swam her freestyle stroke keeping her face dry and out of the water as she looked left, then right, with every stroke of her arms.

Everyone cheered for everyone. The atmosphere was alive with smiles and praise. When Big Mike comes in last but throws his arms energetically above his head saying "I DID IT. I DID IT" and is so proud of himself, we all smile and are proud of him too. I wish that I would pat myself on the back more often at just making the effort, instead of feeling like I have to be in first or second place to matter.

1st place 25 m freestyle

All her ribbons with her cheering squad!

Seeing Jack sit in the bleachers for a change, cheering on his sister, melts my heart too. She spends SO MANY HOURS listening to her music with her headphones on in the sun, in the wind, in the snow, for his football and lacrosse games, that it great to see the support reciprocated. And he's happy to be there for her, even if it meant getting up at 7:30 am on a Saturday.

I couldn't tell if Molly was trying to win the races? She seems pleased with the process but I'm not sure if victory was her mission? She loves getting the ribbons. She even loves posing for these pictures. I get the sense that just being around others fills Molly, and of course seeing her thrive fills us.

I have to give a huge shout out "Thank You" to Molly's augmentative device speech therapist Barbara who took their group on a field trip to Walmart to shop for Mother's Day presents. The next week they wrapped them. On Mother's Day, Molly excitedly handed me the present and watched intently as I opened it.

My present

I love the words...but I bet she picked it b/c of the flower.

Barb tells me that Molly knew exactly what she wanted to get me. Last year she picked a game that she wanted. This year she really DID buy something for me. That's a pretty abstract concept to talk about. On our way to Walmart, I had thrown out ideas for her but wan't sure she was grasping what I was talking about since Mother's Day was weeks away and buying gifts for others is kinda abstract too. I had said "flowers or a plant. Jewelry or a book." I just LOVE that she nailed it with this necklace that I will never take off :) Barb says that she picked the card too. I'm not sure exactly what goes on in my daughters head, but I think that she has a deeply feeling and sensitive heart and I love when it peeks out and shares itself with me. Now whenever she sees that the clasp of my necklace has migrated down around to the front, she reaches over and zips it back around to the back of my neck and fixes it for me.

On a total side note, cool things have been happening regarding the E Squared book. I'm learning that I really can streamline my energy towards positive thoughts and the outcome is crazy wild!  One of the exercises to prove that your thoughts can bring your reality is to picture seeing something throughout your day. The example was "Yellow butterfly" so I used that. That was the random spring day that it snowed! Not many butterflies flying around in the snow typically and yet I saw one!! It was a big fake one on the side of a house but a yellow butterfly none the less. Also a surprise phone call from a friend who had  4 tickets to the DU/UNC lax game (that were sold out when I called to purchase them). My dad "found" stock certificates that my grandmother had left to us 25 years ago that he had forgotten about in his safe. An out of the blue beautiful email from one of Jack's teachers singing his highest praises about what a great kid Jack is. I tell you...once the beauty starts rolling, it picks up momentum. I love it! Can I lure you to join me in trying yet?