Satisfying Sunday

Four thirty AM, alarm, shower, walk the dog, drive to work. 7 AM sitting with 20 plus colleagues I like a lot, but see far too little of, being briefed on how we will cheer on the 6 thousand plus runners in Disney's Princess Half-Marathon. The marathon, a fund raiser for the Make –A-Wish Foundation it's a trinity of goodness; kids win, runners are happy and Disney is even more than the place Uncle Walt imagined it to be.

The participants in this race are mostly women and, as they past me in groups of 2, three and four, I was reminded of the women who have paced me throughout my 60 years, and cheered "Hand in hand, that's the way" to mothers and daughters of several generations as they entered Epcot for the last mile. The first competitor to pass me was a 40+ woman in a wheel chair, pushing, pushing up the hill and my eyes filled with tears of envy for her commitment and passion. Three hours later, as the last woman, red faced with chin held high, walked slowly through the gate, I gave up the last of my voice, my hands became numb from clapping, and the envy was gone, replaced with a quiet sense of self that I didn't realize I had until I returned home and finished my sleep.

When I shouted "Keep it up, you're motivating me" over and over to several thousand people, I must have internalized what I was seeing, for I began and finished a project this afternoon that I didn't know was possible even to do, and surprised myself with a new sense of focus, enthusiasm and stick-with-it-to-the-end for the sheer joy of accomplishment.

Thank you, Princesses for your dedication to yourselves. Please know that while I don't expect you'll ever actually see me running beside you, the energy I put into my life's course is now a part of you, as yours is a part of me.

Shalom.