just keep going
There was this one time when I was at an OU/TX game, and my friend, Cathy, will remember this too--when a member of the Oklahome University offense had the ball...running, running, running...and some quirk of fate or luck had University of Texas defenders falling over trying to catch him.
I want to say he was almost hopping over them, but KEPT GOING...and I just remember being so startled and delighted by his ability to stay on his feet through all that. I have never forgotten it! It still makes me smile.
Tonight--I watched Mags do that same thing. Some quirk of fate or luck had the girls trying to catch her tumbling over themselves. She was high stepping, knees pumping, feet moving her ever forward as she dodged and feigned her upper body around them. It was every bit as delightful and startling--and yet (as you may imagine!) even more so. The tangle of feet and limbs and she just kept going.
She said, as we walked off the field, "Pardon my French, Mom, but that was bad a$$ how all those defenders kept going down..."
I said, "It really, really was!"
She said, "And the only thing I could hear when I was pushing through was you on the sidelines saying, 'Maggie! Just. Keep. GOING!' So I did."
Isn't that the sweetest?
They lost the game. And that's okay, in life there are losses. But I hope Mags and Will always hear that, feel that, know that. That whatever the struggles, I am forever on the sidelines telling them to JUST. KEEP. GOING. ❤
~originally published November 2020