{"id":619,"date":"2014-03-26T03:49:59","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T03:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=619"},"modified":"2014-03-26T03:49:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T03:49:59","slug":"a-letter-from-my-little-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=619","title":{"rendered":"A Letter From My Little Girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes you walk away from a run thinking, \u201cNailed it.\u201d Yeah, today wasn\u2019t one of those.\u00a0 In fact, I haven\u2019t had one of those in longer than I really care to talk about.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we succeed at our goals, sometimes we fail.\u00a0 Sometimes we feel like the overwhelming effort we are putting in is all for naught.\u00a0 But sometimes we see a glimmer of hope that all that hard work had a purpose.<\/p>\n

There are days we suffer to get through, speed workouts where we feel like we are spinning our wheels, mile upon mile where we feel like we are running through sludge.\u00a0 Why do we even bother?\u00a0 But then race day comes when there is nothing quite like the feeling of crossing the finish line and basking in the glory of knowing that you nailed it.\u00a0 All because\u00a0we were willing to keep going through the hard part.<\/p>\n

Today, I had one of those days.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t nail a workout.\u00a0 Or a race.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even run at all.\u00a0 But the bling I received today came in the form of a letter from my daughter.<\/p>\n

This morning I was struggling to remind myself that no matter what anyone else thinks about me, I am a good parent.\u00a0 I love my kids.\u00a0 And I may not remember everything all the time, but I take care of them the best I can and I know they don\u2019t ever question how much I love them.\u00a0 I am human. \u00a0I know I will fail them sometimes.\u00a0 In those moments, I need for the people in my life to not try to fix me, not expect perfection, but occasionally stand back and let me fail.\u00a0 And then love me anyway.<\/p>\n

Tonight, Ally reassured me of just that.<\/p>\n

My kids have been with their dad for the past 11 days for Spring Break.\u00a0 Man that was a long time.\u00a0 Especially after coming off an extended vacation with him in February too.\u00a0 I picked them up from school today and I was greeted with big smiles, even bigger hugs and lots of I love you\u2019s.\u00a0 \u00a0In the car, I mentioned to Ally that I had a card for her.\u00a0 And she said she had something for me too.<\/p>\n

When we got home I gave her the card.\u00a0 And I gave one to the boys as well.\u00a0 I got dinner started and the kids were working on homework.\u00a0 At one point I think I had half the neighborhood in my house.\u00a0 And then I was standing in the laundry room when Ally came in and said, \u201cHere Mom\u201d.\u00a0 She handed me a piece of paper before she turned an walked out.\u00a0 I unfolded a type written note and began to read.\u00a0 I stood there, leaning against the washing machine reading a letter from my 11 year old.\u00a0 Seriously, she\u2019s only 11.\u00a0 How did she get so smart?! The tears filled my eyes, but by the time I read the last line they flowed freely down my face.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t ask for anything more in life than what Ally said to me in that letter.\u00a0 In reading what she wrote from her heart, I know I must be doing something right.\u00a0 I know that the struggles are worth it.\u00a0 I know the pain has a purpose.<\/p>\n

Here is Ally\u2019s letter\u2026<\/p>\n

Dear Mom,<\/p>\n

I missed you this past week.\u00a0 I hope you had fun in Chicago.\u00a0 I hope you took lots of pictures.\u00a0 Thank you for all you do for me and supporting.\u00a0 Thank you for your wonderful meals and cleaning and providing for us.\u00a0 You\u2019re the best mom in the whole entire world.\u00a0 Thank you for working for us.\u00a0 You are so funny!\u00a0 I love when we bond and laugh and watch movies while eating ice cream.\u00a0 Those are some of my favorite moments!\u00a0 I\u2019m excited for the potatoes tonight.\u00a0 It\u2019s been forever since you have made them!\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to go to Chicago and Michigan in a few months.\u00a0 I love you so much.\u00a0 I had a great time in Guatemala but I still missed you.\u00a0 I\u2019m super excited for school to be out in May!\u00a0 No more homework!\u00a0 Yippee!\u00a0 I\u2019m so proud to be called your daughter.\u00a0 And every day I get with you is special.\u00a0 I know you\u2019re always with me in my heart even if I\u2019m not with you.\u00a0 You may only get fifty percent of the time but that time we do get is special and means a lot.\u00a0 Over the years we keep building a stronger relationship.\u00a0 And it keeps getting stronger.\u00a0 Even though you got divorced I found the good that came out of it that I know you better and have a better relationship.\u00a0 Love, Ally<\/p>\n

Hands down that letter is the best reward I have ever received. \u00a0More valuable than any runner\u2019s high, any finish line and any medal from any race ever. \u00a0Today, I received confirmation that there was purpose in the pain.\u00a0 And that makes me feel like I nailed it.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>

From my baby girl…<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes you walk away from a run thinking, \u201cNailed it.\u201d Yeah, today wasn\u2019t one of those.\u00a0 In fact, I haven\u2019t had one of those in longer than I really care to talk about. Sometimes we succeed at our goals, sometimes we fail.\u00a0 Sometimes we feel like the overwhelming effort we are putting in is all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-9Z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}