Measuring up

Around 2 pm today I was standing outside in the lovely sunshine; a bicycle whizzed past and I noticed the cyclist was wearing a singlet, shorts and running shoes--with a Boston Marathon number on the front and a Boston Marathon medal dangling on the singlet above the number.  A marathon runner going home! 

This person flashed past me so quickly that I did not even have time to notice whether it was a male or female.  Doesn't matter.  I was thrilled to know that our race went so well this year, after last year's tragedy (and the subsequent triumph of the survivors). 

"We own this finish line," Joe Biden said, and it's true.  I was impressed that anyone could run 26.2 miles and then get on a bicycle and pedal home.  You'd have to shovel me onto a front loader a mile into the marathon, never mind cycling afterward!  These athletes have courage, resilience, and stamina. 

Congratulations to the runners, the survivors, those who lost loved ones last year, and all the first responders who worked so hard to make this year's marathon a remarkable event.

Seemingly unrelated (but not!):  I am just starting to work with colored pencils and here's a first attempt (on paper entirely unsuited to this medium).  A lot to learn, and so much pleasure ahead in the learning.

When we draw, paint, act, write, photograph, hook, knit...name your medium...I'm always struck by how often we are disappointed when whatever we produce doesn't fit the original image in our heads.  It doesn't "measure up."  This is so common.  Certainly I experience it, and I hear it all the time from others.  What is this tendency to disappointment?...when often, when we let the product sit for a few days, we go back and see something in it that is uniquely ours, and which stands very well on its own.

Does the above photo look exactly like the apple I drew it from?  No.  Could it have been better drawn?  You bet.  But it's a start and I like it now that I've let it sit awhile.  And with this record of it, I can watch myself improve over time--IF I practice.

I wonder if there are disappointed marathon runners today, people who didn't finish or didn't finish in the time they'd hoped for.  If so, I want you to know that no matter how far or how fast you ran, you are my heroes.  You prepared.  You showed up.  You worked it.  And if it didn't turn out exactly as you expected, so what?  You did something uniquely yours, and you inspired so many others.

And to that anonymous marathoner and cyclist who flashed past me this afternoon:  Be proud!  I sure was when I saw you.

---