manrymission.com

We just returned from our visit with Dale’s family down south. When departing any location, Dale and I are used to saying “Manry Clan – Let’s go.” Finding ourselves around others who could also answer to that, Dale was finding it difficult to figure out what to say. His brother solved the problem by declaring, “All Southern Manrys, over here.” Not wanting to accept being termed a Northerner or a Yankee, Dale insisted on saying “All Virginia Manrys – Let’s go.” To be “The Northern Manrys” was too much for him to accept.

While in Baton Rouge, we visited the Rural Life Museum with Uncle Dwayne. The area is set up as an old plantation with church, jail, post office, and commissary buildings. It also has a sugar cane mill where we watched the farmer squeeze the juice out of the cane and boil it down. Zeke, although fond of the jail, liked the commissary the best. He set himself up behind the cash register and started taking orders.

Zeke is now five and a half and believes silence at any time is unnecessary. His mouth starts moving and won’t stop. “Sir, how may I help you? May I take your order? What would you like?” he queried. His father, thinking he could shut him up, responded, “I would like a boy who obeys his mom and dad.” “That’ll be one thousand dollars,” Zeke responded.

Zeke mans the cash register

It was raining this morning when I got up. But the temperature dropped, and the rain has now turned to snow. The forecast calls for 2-4 inches today. Mugs bought me a new snow shovel yesterday and sleds for the kids. We’re ready!

First Snow of the Season

Mugs turned 43 yesterday!

Mugs and Cake

Dale loves to run. I do not love to run.

Zeke once listed our family by order of speed. “Josiah is fastest. Daddy is second. Zeke is third. Abby is fourth. Gabe is fifth. Mommy is last, ” he informed us all. When his two older siblings objected to being slower than him, he reluctantly rearranged the order. “Josiah is fastest. Daddy is second. Abby is third. Gabe is fourth. Zeke is fifth. Mommy is still last,” he said.

Admittedly, my last place position is warranted. Josiah has taken after his father and loves to run. Abby and Gabe have taken after me and run when they must. Zeke has been a bit of a tossup since he loves to run, but also loves to stop.

After watching Josiah run throughout the Cross Country season, Zeke declared he wanted to enter a race. So, Dale entered himself  and Josiah into the 5k Turkey Trot and Zeke into the 1 mile kid’s Turkey Trot in Fredericksburg on Thanksgiving morning.

Zeke lined up for the race with boys and girls 6 and under alongside his two handlers Dale and Josiah. The pistol fired and he took off at a sprint. It took Dale and Josiah two blocks to catch up with him. I saw Zeke pass the 1 mile mark with a look of pain and agony on his face, he was running hard.

Zeke Running with Josiah

He finished with a time of 10:45, 61 out of 145. All runners who finished received a medal. He was proud of himself.

Zeke's Finishing Sprint

Then “the losing someone in a crowd drama” occurred when Dale, Josiah, and Zeke  walked one way and I walked another. I lost them in the crowd of 2415 5k runners and their families. I was wearing a bright red jacket and hoped that if I stood in the middle of the road intersection ahead of the start, they would see me. They were on the top of the steps of the library in the hopes that I would see them.

I had both my and Dale’s cell phones and with the 5k race fast approaching, I prayed quite a few frantic prayers and asked various people I knew if they had seen them. Losing someone in a crowd is quite unsettling. Thankfully, they saw me and Zeke did not have to run the 5k.

The first runners to finish were two Kenyan runners from Chapel Hill, NC. They finished together at 14:35. It was amazing to watch the sprint to the finish. I saw Josiah just after 20 minutes. The guy next to him said, “Come on little man,” and started to sprint. I think he was a bit surprised when Josiah out sprinted him as well as the guy in front of him to finish at 20:11 (99 out of 2415).

Dale’s training this autumn had been a bit lackluster compared to Josiah’s. He finished at 24:17 (387 out of 2415 runners). This time I stayed where I was and let Dale find me. They all ate their bagels and cookies, drank their water and gatorade and got their turkey t-shirts.

The Happy Finishers

When we got home, Zeke was complaining to Gabe that he hadn’t gotten to do anything fun yet. Gabe replied, “What? You just got to run a race. That’s fun!” Zeke answered, “Running a race isn’t fun.”

So, the child remains an even division between Dale and I. He wants to run the race like Dale, but he sure doesn’t consider it fun. A bit of his mother in him there.

Patches and her Prey

Zeke caught a cricket and caterpillar and housed them in Gabe’s bug catcher. Patches was most grateful for her new live action toys.