Thanksgiving 2011: The Start of a New Tradition?

Although my thoughts are mostly revolving around the upcoming holiday of Christmas, it's Thanksgiving that I want to think about for a few minutes.  I'm determined to eventually finish the historic, sentimental Thanksgiving 2011 saga, and wouldn't it be lovely to finish it before Christmas?  Who knows whether I'll actually get to it in the next two days; but with only one more installment to go after this one, at least it's in the realm of possibility.  We shall see...  :)

To start from the beginning, here are Parts...

One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

Five...

Six...

On Thanksgiving morning, we woke up, enjoyed a better-than-average hotel breakfast, then got ready (well, Josiah and David did) for the big event:  a mile race to be run on the campus of my alma mater.  This was the first official race they had ever had the opportunity to run in, and to say they were extremely excited would be an understatement.  As soon as we read the email from my sister-in-law Lori telling us that my brother and their kids would be participating in the race (actually, the 5K race that was run before the mile one) and that any of our family that wanted to run could do so, Josiah and David had been preparing intently for it.  Josiah immediately wanted me to look up some info on the internet:  things to eat before the race, what to do to get prepared, etc.  He was ready to follow those instructions exactly; it was as if he was preparing for the Boston Marathon.  Maybe someday...  :)

The race was a fundraiser for a local food bank, so the entrance fee for the race was a nonperishable food item.  Simple enough.  It was interesting to me how many crazy people...I mean, running enthusiasts!...were present on a chilly Thanksgiving morning to run together.  Workin' up an appetite for the coming feast, I suppose.  :)

Here are Josiah and David before the race...

Stretching...

Hanging out with my brother David and his son Isaac, who had just completed the 5K, along with their Labradoodle, Buddy...

The race begins!

...and continues over the scenic covered bridge on the Yellow Breeches River.

While we waited for the runners to make it to the finish line, I got a chance to soak in the scenery and take this picture of the chapel where I practiced organ and participated in many other musical events during my college years.

Lots of memories there...  :)

We could hear the lady at the finish line calling out the times to the racers as they crossed, and knowing that we were only in the 8 minute range, I did not expect to see either of my boys for quite some time (since their best times at home had been much higher than 8 minutes).  But to my surprise, here came Josiah!

Getting closer...

...then Tobin started running, from where he had been waiting with us, to meet Josiah.

Oh my word.  What sweetness.

At this point, I was fighting hard not to cry...

...but I lost the fight, and tears were rolling down my cheeks.  It seems silly to admit that I was crying over a race!  But I was so proud of my boys; and somewhere in my brain, my "I'm so proud of you" button is strangely linked to my "now I need to cry" button.  Weird wiring, what can I say?  ;-)

Josiah crossed the finish line at 8 minutes, 32 seconds; and after we had hugged him and congratulated him, we looked up to see our little David coming with big David by his side.

I knew that before the race, my boys--although happy and excited--were also really nervous.  "Where do we go?" they kept asking as the pre-race butterflies fluttered in their stomachs.  "What do we do now?"  I hardly knew how to answer them, except to say, "We'll figure it out; don't worry."  I knew my brother had run the 5K, so I wasn't sure that he would want to turn around and run another mile on top of that.  But to the great relief of two of his nephews (and his sister!), he cheerfully offered to run with Josiah and David.  I LOVED seeing The Davids running together.

This time, not only Tobin, but also Josiah ran onto the track to encourage David to keep coming...

...and come he did.

They did, I should say.  Little David, Big David, and Buddy, the dog.  :)

At six years of age, my David ran his first mile race...

...and I believe his time was 9:42.  I'll have to ask him tomorrow to see if he remembers for sure.  If he doesn't, I'm positive Josiah will.  :)

Afterward, little David kept saying (to Jeff and I and all the family gathered at Uncle David and Aunt Lori's house), "Uncle David really encouraged me!  He kept my spirits up the whole time!!"

I have no doubt that the sacrifice my beloved brother made to run in the race with his nephews helped it to be the incredibly rich, fulfilling, and FUN experience that it was for them.

They already want to do it again next year.  ;-)