The Joy of Competition!

I never really thought of myself as being competitive, but I love the feeling that I get when I have experienced the thrill of victory! So I suppose there must be some sort of competition involved in order to be a winner. I loved watching the olympics these past two weeks! I was overjoyed when my teams ended their olympic experience in victory. Standing on that podium getting a gold medal must have been such a rush. All of the aches, pains, and losses must have been worth it just to be in that moment.

I remember when I went to girl scout camp when I was 11 or 12. We had a girl scout version of the olympics. I was in a race. I don't even remember the race or what kind it was, something like taking a spoon and running and filling a cup. What I do remember was winning the race and my troop (my sister Tifani was one of them) ran up to me and hugged me and screamed and cheered. They wrapped their arms around me and we all to the ground! I was never so excited about something I had done in my life up to that point! Looking back, I wasn't happy because I had one, but because I had people who loved me and cheered me on.

We had our annual Edwards Family Reunion this past Saturday. The kids and some adults participated in games and races. I watched my kids race. Some of them won and some of them didn't. Then it was time for the adult women to race. That was me. There was about 10 of us. Most of the women running were more than 10 years younger than me. I decided that I was in it to win it. When the word "go" was yelled, I ran as fast as I could. I got a slow start, then I began to pull away. It was just like a scene taken out of the movie "Chariots of Fire". I was so into it that I almost expected someone to cue the music. I was on fire. I was leading and then, the unthinkable. My feet slipped out from under me and I crashed to the ground about 10 yards from the finish line. I was devistated! I was ticked! But before I could even stand up, my sister-in-law Michelle, instead of stepping over me to finish the race, came and helped me up. Then she picked up my sun glasses that had fallen off and handed them to me. I may not have won the race, but I had someone to pick me up and encourage me. I felt like a winner.

I compete against myself a lot. Especially when it comes to housework. I like to use timers to see how much I can get done in 15 minutes. Last week as I wrote previously, went on a cleaning spree and an over haul of my house. I had a competition with myself to see if I can keep my office clean for a week. Now this is a hard task with school starting and computer work that needed to be done. Here is my office today. I call it the dungeon because it is dark and out of the way of the action going on in the rest of the house.



I managed to keep it looking clean, just like it was when I cleaned it a week ago. You should have seen it before I cleaned it. There was so much stuff piled on the desk I forgot for a while that I even had a desk calendar. Of course no one is going to run and give me a hug and cheer for me because I kept it clean. In fact no one will say anything about how great I am for keeping the office clean. That must be why so many mothers get discouraged about being homemakers. There are no medals, no cheers, no pay raises. For most of us, we have to get the joy by knowing that what we do is great and worth all the aches and pains. We have to give ourselves the medals. My medal of choice? Chocolate!