Track Camp Saved Our Spring Break

I’d actually been excited for spring break. To have both kids home with me all day for a full week sounded wonderful. We would do activities. We would visit venues of fun. We would bask in the sunshine that I was willing forth with powers of great will and weather manipulation. Life would be a dream and a song. I would even stop barfing in honor of the festivities.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

On Monday we went to the park with some friends where we had fun in the sun, even applied sunscreen whether we needed it or not. Then I twisted my ankle and spent two days lying flat on my back. By Tuesday or Wednesday I was knocked out with an awful head and chest cold that lingers even now. And I was still throwing up.

So both kids were home and I continued my pattern of lying around and letting them solder their eyeballs to whichever screen was closest.

Luckily Laylee was signed up for the high school Track Camp for three days last week so she got to spend some time out in the cloudy cold weather with some high school track heroes learning how to hurdle, high jump and do other trackish activities. My favorite was watching her throw the discus. They were using the same size for all kids K-12 so she had to hold on with two hands to throw it but she was NOT BAD.

And the mini hurdles? Cutest thing ever. I must admit that the reason she won her heat in the final day of competition was because I whispered in her ear before the race started, “When you get past the last hurdle, keep running all the way to the flag. That’s where the race ends.” She gave me a thumbs up.

When they gave the go, she had a slow start and stayed behind the entire race… until… the last hurdle, when all the other kindergarten girls slowed to a walk and Laylee busted through to win the race. A good citizen would have told ALL the girls the “secret” of the race but a good mom gave her daughter the chance to win a rare victory in any sports-related activity. We also had a good talk about how if you keep going to the end of anything you start, you’re a winner. You should never stop before the end.

Side lesson: Mom is a genius.

So spring break became all about track camp and for $30 and a few hours in the cold bleachers for me and Magoo, Laylee feels like she had an amazing break from school. I’m glad that it doesn’t always take much to create lasting memories.

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