Tough Enough??

I have been to 12 Tough Enoughs in my St. George's career. This was the first time I cried.

Tough Enough started out great. Luke and the Gryphon Drum Brigade kicked off the event with their powerful beats!

Then were the races. This year we had the track all to ourselves, so all the parents sat in the bleachers. Evan had been looking forward to Tough Enough for weeks. His teachers had an incentive for the kids. They were 'racing' 3 adults. If they beat the adults time, they got to skip a homework assignment....a BIG homework assignment. 

Luke was up first. I saw him line up, but again, was sitting in the bleachers. The teachers signaled go, and Luke took off...and fell down. There was such a crowd that he when he fell, he fell hard and then got stepped on. I saw him get up, but about 5 seconds into the run saw he was limping. 

I sprinted off the bleachers and went down to the field. My poor baby ran the entire length of the track limping and in last place. He didn't give up. He ran the entire way. I knew something was very wrong when he didn't stop limping. Luke is my pretty tough guy. He's not one to drone on and on and on. When he finally reached the finish line...again...last, he was crying so hard he could barely breathe. His knee started swelling pretty soon after he sat down. 

I hugged him and hugged him telling him that I was so proud of him for finishing. He kept crying saying, "I wanted you, mommy. I wanted you. I was crying for you, mommy." Oh my heart. It broke into about 1000 pieces. I just kept holding him and telling him how proud I was of him for finishing and not giving up. That is what being TOUGH ENOUGH is all about. 

By this time, Evan had started running. I got to the track to cheer him on. I knew how excited he was about this! When he crossed the finish line, 6th place of all the boys, his teacher said, "You beat their time!!" He didn't give her a second glance. He immediately found me and said, "Where is Luke? Is he okay? Take me to Luke!!!" 

Evan had looked forward to this for about a month, but when it was done, all he could think about was Luke. He just wanted to make sure he was okay and take care of him. 

 Thankfully the next day, Luke's knee had gone down a little bit. It wasn't quite as swollen. We had a couple of sweet teachers text us and check on us after seeing what happened.

Even though we don't like to talk about it, I still like to remind him, finishing what you start is important but taking care of the ones we love is even more important.