Strength

Strength. It takes courage to even spell the word - and yet here I am typing it. Laying it out there for the world to devour, etching it in web space... how brave of me.

So here is my thought. We all have varying degrees of strength, and what I find interesting is that our opinions on what strength is, or what kind of strength in general we talk about - don't correspond with our varying degrees of personal strength. There is the strength that lifts heavy things and is thus important to a person who relies on their ability for sustenance, or an athlete who deliberately practices lifting things. There is the strength of my cup of coffee. And this, make no mistake, udders huge importance in my ability to maintain homeostasis. There is the strength of someone who constantly deals with others troubles.... like a counsellor or a foster parent. Then there is this moment, this thought that occupied my brain at 3:30am this morning. There is a category all its own for mommy strength.

In this group we have things like; the ability to not sleep and still function for months on end, the capability of moving beyond the yellow crayoned writing of the nine yr old on the chair that read 'I hate mom', the magical realisation that there will never in fact be enough dark chocolate in the world and that that is okay; learned agility to maneuver over public comments on my mothering style (because we all know that people who witness 30 seconds of an interaction are much more knowledgeable than the mom who has put in nearly ten years) .... and i think, my fantastic acting/makeup skills at being able to put on a smiling face in the most miserable moment because I know being miserable means a terrible afternoon with the kids. Mommy strength goes a long way. I know some other mommies that deserve awards for theirs.

So today I'm celebrating my mommy strength - and as Q says, I'm doing my victory lap singing to myself "we are the champions".....

Running log update: I broke the 50 km marker but only just barely as I had my first experience with deliberate hills. I'll be adding another 3.5 very shortly.