100th Blog! And an Ethical Girl

Wow - can you believe that this is my 100th blog entry? It seems amazing to me! I started this as a way for my out of town friends to keep in touch with what our family is doing. It also was, or rather, is , a means of my sort of keeping track of myself. It has grown since then. It still serves its original purpose, but it has also become a way for me to meet new friends. People that I most likely would not have met otherwise. :)

This past weekend was a big bike weekend. We had two races and a team party. My kids were awesome in the race. Ethan went faster than he had ever gone. He came in 14th in his division, which happens to be one of the largest and most competitive. It was a thrill to see him whiz by after completing 19 miles of the 20 mile race. Ellie was also wonderful. She came in second and earned a lovely metal. Her metal was not due to being the second most fast girl in her category. Rather, the two fastest girls in her group did not pay attention to directions and went a longer distance than they were supposed to go. This put Emily and Ellie in the top two spots. Now, we discussed that in their hearts of hearts, they knew the other girls were faster. Perhaps they should trade down their metals, we suggested. After all, didn't they earn them? After some hand wrenching, Emily and Ellie decided, on their own, to talk to the judges. The officials were great. They said that while speed and skill are important, so is knowing what you're doing and where you are going. The officials decided that Emily and Ellie had indeed won those metals. It was a hard lesson for the others, their parents complained about it at the race the next day, not realizing whose mother I was, but I understand where they are coming from. Perhaps they will learn to pay more attention to details, like directions. I figure that is an important life lesson. Anyhow, I am proud of my girl. It had to be hard to face the prospect of handing over your first big metal. I hope her ethical side will always prevail. I could have MADE her do the ethical thing. It was so much more meaningful that she chose it on her own. You Go, Biker Girl!