Follow Through Does Make a Difference

What to do today? Where to start? With nothing on the calendar, doing absolutely zip each day becomes easier and easier. With drizzle, 15 mph winds, and chilly 50's temps, actually leaving the house becomes less and less. Vegging out for hours upon hours in front of the TV becomes the must-do. The logical me quietly implores the lazy me to stop, to get a grip, to start all those projects planned before the end of the semester, all of those "fun" things just waiting until no more student papers and other work requirements blocked the way. So far, almost two weeks into summer break, not much no progress has been made with any of the projects.

One thing I know about myself is I need deadlines. The problem with having summer projects and saying I want to have them completed by August 1 is there's no one on August 1 to whom I have to give the results, like a boss. It's just me. And I'm not going to fire me for not getting a summer project completed. Most likely, I wouldn't be all that upset about not finishing what I'd said I was going to do. After all, summer projects don't make much difference one way or the other. Or do they?

Lately, I've been seeing how what I do affects my kids. My daughter said to me recently how proud she is of me for what I've accomplished with the sprint tri's, the cycling, and the writing/publishing. On her blog today, she wrote about the stair climb I did several months ago, saying I'm "just cool like that." She and I have talked about living life in such a way that later, like when she reaches the age I am now, she has no regrets. I've told her about some of my own regrets to help her understand where I'm coming from. What she shares about the way she sees me and the decisions she's making right now show me what I do definitely makes a difference.

With my two boys, I'm not so sure. I know they think I'm crazy for all the running, swimming and cycling I do. But they support me. Sunday, when I went for my 54 mile ride, I turned the corner to finish the last two blocks to the house, and I saw both boys run across the street. The oldest was holding out a plastic cup of ice water, like they do for the cyclists in the peloton. My hubby was on my other side, running alongside while waving the American flag. And my youngest, in bare feet, ran the last block as fast as he could, staying right by my side until we reached the driveway. My speedometer said he was running 12 mph. After battling the wind for nearly 35 miles, seeing my guys come out to run me in the last block was a great way to end the ride. So yes, I think what I do makes a difference.

I have no choice but to finish my summer projects. My kids are watching me, and I need to show them how important it is to finish what I say I'm going to do.

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