There's an eight year old in my house...

I remember this day, eight years ago, as if it just happened yesterday.

I've made no secret that my path to motherhood was not an easy one.  It was expensive, invasion, and often heartbreaking.  But despite all of that, I would go through it all again in a minute because at the end of it all, I was blessed with a little boy.

Matt has reached that age where he is pushing limits, learning what he can and he cannot get away with and so this has been one of our most difficult years as parents, but it has also been one of the best. 

Matt has really excelled at school, particularly in math.  He's obsessed with money in a way that makes me think he will be an investment banker or a CPA though he'd like something a little more lucrative, so he's aiming for actor or professional baseball player.

He can be the most kind or the most awful big brother... just as I did with my brother growing up, there are fights over silly little things.  I think it goes back to limits again, because when we are not home, our babysitters and neighbors tell us how fantastic he is with Cathy, always making sure to include her with his friends in after school play and just looking out for her. 

This past year, Matt starting showing an interest in the kinds of things I think are really fun... he runs with us, participates in youth track and cross country meets sponsored by our local parks department, and he discovered baseball.  He's also learned how to play it up for the crowd... I can still remember not just his first in-the-park home run (thanks to a fielding error) but the way he came across the plate, looked at all the parents in the bleachers and then threw his arms in the air in celebration.  And I can see the joy on his face when he scored the game winning run on their final game of the 2012 season, his friends all mobbing him at the plate.

Matt's been active in scouting and his scouting troop is active around the community.  I've loved watching him develop a better sense of how to do things for others that are not as fortunate as he is through the scouts food drive each fall and through other service projects his Pack takes on. 

He's developing a great sense of humor, though his knock-knock jokes could use some work.

Each night at bedtime, I lay down with Matt and we chat about our day.  He sometimes asks lots of questions - some very serious ones and some very ridiculous.  He broke my heart in the days after the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy last month because he worried that the same thing might happen in his own school.  But each night, we'd talk about it as we lay in bed.  It's been the only place we've had really serious discussions and I believe that's because we've made that special time to talk each night and because it's always been OK to say anything.  It's one of my favorite parts of the day.

Having struggled through years of infertility, and having watched too many friends and family do the same, I know what a blessing it is to have found Matt on the other side of that journey.  For eight years now, he's made me laugh and made me cry.  He's been a source of both great pride and great frustration.  He's been a great playmate, riding roller coasters and water slides, climbing rock walls, taking long bike rides, and playing Wii games.  Without a question, he makes our lives better and I am so, so very thankful he came along.

He's mostly easy to raise now, though I know that as the years move on, that will probably change,  But, I am looking forward to this 9th year with him...  watching him continue to grow, and laugh, and learn.

Happy birthday, Monkey.

Run, Forest, Run!

My poor, neglected blog. 

Without actively looking through my old posts, I cannot recall the last thing that I wrote about which tells me that it's been entirely too long since I've written anything.  And I miss writing.  Sure, I do some writing at work, but it's all about what flaws I see in your investment portfolio and what my company can do to better diversify your assets and how we can transition those assets in a tax-sensitive manner.  It's fine, but it's not the same as the blog. 

The original premise of the blog was to document all my travels with the kids during our Summer of Fun (also known as the summer I was unemployed).  I love to look back over those posts, to see the things we were doing back then.  And to remember what a gift the Summer of 2011 really was. 

But since the kids are both in school and I am working full-time, if I limit myself to trips with the kids, I won't write all that much this year (see 2012 if you don't believe me). 

So instead, I am going to try to make a commitment to do this with some degree of regularity.  Among the most likely of topics you'll see - my crazy notion that at 43, I can run my first marathon.   For the record, I am not 43 yet.  But I would be on marathon day...

When I first started running again almost four years ago, my friend Don planted the idea of running a marathon in my head... he wanted to run something like the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington DC and would I just think about it and wouldn't it be a really great accomplishment and why don't I just think about doing it with him. 

For a long time I was pretty adamant that I wouldn't do it. 

I compromised.  Said I would try a half and see how it went... I ran the Nittany Valley Half Marathon back in 2010 and I've run two ten-mile races (the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia) since then as well.  I can do that 'middle' distance and still walk the next day. 

Everyone I know who has run a marathon has told me that it's a completely different experience compared to the half-marathon (beyond the notion that it takes twice as long).  That the recovery is much longer and more painful.  But, what the heck... I am not getting any younger.  I even have the roots to prove it.  If I am ever going to do it, this is probably as good a time as any.

This September, the Mount Nittany Conservancy is sponsoring the inaugural Mount Nittany Marathon.  It's local.  And it's a $50 entry fee.  It would be impossible to find something, anything else, so convenient and affordable.  So, I have a race in mind... but that is the easy part.

The hard part is where I actually train for the race.  I've been looking for marathon training programs and think a six-month program is the best approach for a 'beginner' (you are considered a 'beginner' if you are currently running 15 to 20 miles per week).  I'm close to the low end of that distance now, running about 12 to 15 miles a week, so my first goal is to tack on a few extra miles a week.  Come March 1, I'll start following a yet-to-be determined training program.

And I'll write about it.  Hopefully not in that dull, oh-my-God, how can she want us to read this sort of way.  But in a way that's a little entertaining and maybe a little inspiring as you are looking at your own fitness goals for the new year. 

At least that's the plan for now... stay tuned!