May 29 (edited) in General discussion
My Journey: Independence &
So, where exactly was the “AHA” moment of my life? We’re getting there. We still have some years to get through! We briefly walked through what the early years of my childhood looked like. I would definitely consider it special, but there weren’t really any moments of “struggle” or “life changing/character defining” events that you hear about in stories or see in movies. We left off with a change of scenery, the new house! So, what happens after that? Let’s talk about it.
I mentioned last week about how I was considered a “quiet” kid, and that personality trait came along with me to the new school I went to. I’ll never forget how I met my first friend (we’ll leave names out of these stories; you’ll understand by the end). It was lunch time on the first day of school, and for Junior High (Middle School) we were given the freedom to sit wherever we wanted. As a 12 year old kid, this new power carried a weight that made you feel like you can run down the halls singing I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T. You mean to tell me I can make a decision on my own?! Well… here goes nothing. I take a deep breath in as if I’m going skydiving for the first time, and find my seat that was calling my name across the entire cafeteria with some other kids. There’s a couple other guys there and I’m like “okay this isn’t so bad”. A few minutes after everyone’s got their food and has made their way to their seats, the Assistant Principal, who just so happened to be my 6th grade math teacher at the school I was at before we moved, got up on the stage at the front of the cafeteria to tell us the “dos and don’ts” of our lunch time. Along with the rules, he pointed out the detention table. “Over there you’ll see the detention table, you definitely don’t want to be sitting over there.”
Guess who was sitting at the detention table, voluntarily. Me! I can’t even type out how embarrassed I was, but thankfully that situation didn’t define how the remainder of my Junior High years were going to go.
Going into High School was an experience on its own. I joined my first “school sport”, Cross Country. I did it to get my physical education elective out of the way, so being involved in a team activity sounded way better than being around a bunch of PE kids who carried their kick ball musk off to their next class with them. No disrespect to the PE kids out there, I’m sure you all showered… eventually!
I wouldn’t say I was the best runner for my Cross-Country team, or the worst either. But it was one of the best times of my High School career. My Dad was the runner of our family. He was always doing MS150’s or running some half marathon somewhere, so of course I wanted to at least try and live up to my Dad’s athleticism. I believe my fastest two mile for a meet was right around 13:00, which in the running community is definitely not the quickest, and I was ok with that!
My favorite memory is probably another person’s worst. It was a 5AM run, and every morning I would always have a breakfast bar and a glass of water to get something in my stomach so I wasn’t absolutely miserable. I don’t know about you, but most mornings consist of me spending some one on one time with a nice porcelain toilet bowl. I’m sure you have an idea of where this is going. I was a mile in and that dreaded feeling hit that stomach of mine, and by instinct, my fight or flight kicked in like I had to make a move in order to survive, or it wasn’t going to be good. Mile two was the half way point and there just so happened to be a Walgreens right across the street from it. “I can make it!” I remember seeing that glowing red sign like it was Heavens gates. I ran right up to that automatic opening door… and walked right into it. “Store Hours: 6AM-9PM”. It was 5:25AM. Are you kidding me? There’s no way I’m waiting 35 minutes. There was a strip center that looked like it had a store opened in it at the time, and a animal hospital which, who knows, maybe they’re open at 5AM for some odd reason? I somehow survive my way back to the strip center and by the gift of God there’s a Donut Shop open. “WHERE’S YOUR BATHROOM?!” The owner hit me with the worlds that broke my heart more than any junior high relationship ever did. “We don’t have one.” At this point time froze, and my soul left my body. “THE ANIMAL HOSPITAL!” I dart across the street… “CLOSED”. It was now or never for me now. Behind the animal hospital I went, and the feeling of relief was something I had never experienced before. But, as I was basking in the feeling of relief and accepting the fact that I was about to lose a pair of socks forever, I turned my head to someone’s worst nightmare. The Donut Shop owner had a drive-thru window which just so happened to have a full view of yours truly. I’ve never seen someone’s jaw that low to the floor before.
To continue on with my Cross-County adventures, understand that we practiced twice a day during the season. 6 miles in the morning, and 4 miles in the afternoon after school ended. I can feel the after school heat blasting my face typing this. It was brutal. But that’s ok, I solved that problem on my own! I’ll never forget the team stepping off for a mid-August afternoon run, and our coach would drive off at the same time and stop at the half-way point to hand out water to all of us. I let the speedster zoom right past me, and then got to a point where the groups split off. The speedsters were way out front, then it was me, then it was the fall outs who needed a break 2 seconds after starting. The scenery of our runs were always so nice, and their just so happened to be an easement right by our running route that we ran fairly often. For those who don’t have easements where you live, it’s like a diving area of land between roads or neighborhoods that allows water to flow in and out of to keep areas from flooding. “Huh, that’s a nice bridge over there, I think I’ll go sit under it!”
I was able to keep an eye on the road, so by the time the speedsters made their way back to the school, I got back on the route and “finished strong!” I got back and my coach immediately asked “Ryan, where were you at the half-way point?”. I responded with “I didn’t need any water, Coach!” They were already on to me!
I got away with it a couple more times. One time I got another buddy involved and we decided to take a little detour down the street and grab some Chick-Fil-A to run back with. It’ll be ok since it’s around the same distance anyway, right? When we got back, we immediately saw Coach, and he was pissed! Maybe the punishment wouldn’t have been so bad if we brought him back some to. We spent the first hour of school doing push-ups and planks back and forth until our muscles felt like they were going to melt off our bodies, but don’t worry, I survived!
We’ll take a break there this week. I hope you got a good laugh because I for sure did. These are some of the earlier memories of me growing up and diving into the life of independence that I’ll never forget. What are some of your favorite stories from when you were young, dumb, and “somewhat” free? I’d love to read them. See y’all next week!
0
0 comments
My Journey: Independence &
