By Kim Anderson
So I’m going to do something kinda nuts. I am going to do something I’ve never attempted before and had no reason to try. I’m going to test my patience, my tolerance for pain and my character. I’m going to want to give up. I’m going to need support. I’m going to run a half marathon in July (even though I’ve never ran a full mile without stopping) and I’m doing it in honor of a kid at Youth Homes. Some kid I haven’t met and probably never will. I’m doing this because I can’t come up with any more excuses. I’m doing it because I am in awe of what this kid will need to do to survive.
This kid will wake up each morning and might need to fight their urge to self medicate with drugs or alcohol. At age 4, 9, 15, 12, 17 ½ …they will need to overcome self abuse, self hatred, insecurity, chemical dependency, rape, incest, hunger, poverty, mental illness, ignorance, and negative role models that they happen to love deeply. At times they will feel small and alone and need to build themselves up with little or no support from family. And the amazing thing is they do overcome these things (or learn how to deal with them) with time, practice, self determination, love and support.
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By Jennifer Savage
My daughter Lucille poured cold water on my face first thing Saturday morning and I’m not over it yet.
She made her way to our pillows as she does most every morning and stood, I thought, looking out the window above our heads. The window was locked. I knew she was safe so I kept my eyes closed hoping to squeeze out a few more minutes of sleep in the early morning.
“Up, up,” I heard her say. I knew she meant cup, and thinking there was no cup in sight, I looked up to see what she was doing. That’s when I saw she was holding a glass of water right above my head. Before I could reach her or even utter a word, she poured a full pint glass of cold water in my face.
It was 6:15 a.m.
I jumped out of bed shouting four letter words. I was soaked, my pillow was soaked and Lucille was smiling. I threw off my tank top, dried my face and, I’m pretty sure, screamed into the towel. Lucille made her way to the bathroom.
“Mama wet!” she said. Yeah, mama wet indeed.
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The Missoulian is adding a new Youth Sports page to its Tuesday Section, beginning March 30.
Please help kick off this new section by submitting photos of your sporting kids!
Here’s a link to an announcement of the section and the guidelines for submission
By Jen Slayden
“Wings! Wings! Wings! They are wonderful flying things. Wings flutter and flap and they make things go. Some go high and some go low. Some fly fast and some fly slow. Some wings are red, and some wings are blue. Wings help you fly, that’s what they do!”
Riley used to love the book Wings on Things by Marc Brown when he was little. Each time I would say “Go pick out a book” his little hands would grab the Wings book and he would crawl up on my lap excited to hear the familiar rhymes. I read it so many times that I still have most of it memorized to this day. My youngest son just found this book under his bed. We have been reading it, and it is bringing back a lot of memories! It just so happens that we rediscovered it just a few days before Riley heads to Minnesota on an airplane for the first time without mom and dad at his side.
Riley has been chosen along with five other students from Montana to take part in a trip in conjunction with the Missoula Watershed Network and Salish Kootenai College to participate alongside scientists, teachers, high school and undergraduate students in scientific lake studies and to take part in a science camp. It is such an honor for him to attend this all-expense paid trip but as a mom I have to admit, I have to let go a little. Riley turns thirteen this month and transitions from tween to teen. The timing and irony is not lost on me.
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