Well, last Friday I had started a {this moment} post where I meant to post some photos from the race I ran last week and of the boy for whom I ran, but the moments were busy and full and I barely took time to sit at my desk for days.
Then Monday came and along with it, a Facebook post I had expected and feared. There was a moment when I held my breath and wished the words weren’t true. A moment when I realized that all these little intervals of 60 seconds just seem to be slipping away too fast. A moment when I wished I could give some of my remaining moments to someone else. My friend Mathias, who has been fighting cancer for two years still fights on. His family still fights on. His friends pray and we hope and we beg His mercy and His miracles because that is what we have left. There are no more treatment options.
I’m back here now with my cutesy {this moment} draft from last week staring me in the face. The cursor blinking at me, challenging me to write something profound and comforting as the moments tick on and I wipe away tears again wondering how there could possibly be any more left in my red, raw eyes. So, I will remember those moments tonight that led me to run a race I didn’t think I could, didn’t think I would, but knew I should. I will remember them, not to celebrate my accomplishment, because it wasn’t really mine. Because a little boy with a million dollar smile took hold of my heart and my head and pretty much set my feet in motion a week ago. For him and because of him, these moments happened. If not for him, I would have stayed in my bed that morning. I’m pretty darn sure of it.
First, there was that moment back in June when even though I thought I was done with long runs and even though it had been five years since I had run ten miles, I actually signed up to run the Army 10 Miler because there was a spot on a team called Team Mathias. I had no choice because I would move mountains for that smile.