transcend

Today I ran with Stefan.

Naturally soft-spoken, his voice doesn’t always carry over the clamor of our household. But Stefan is always willing to walk or run with me, and then we can talk.

We talk about girls and school and girls some more, and then I look beside me and notice his legs and shoulder muscles winding like springs, his energy building like a pitcher of water about to overflow.

I tell him, “Go!” He sprints ahead to the next stop sign or a big tree, then circles back and settles into my slower pace. And then we talk, and talk some more.

The cycle repeats every few minutes: enough that he probably gets double the miles I do on our runs. Part of misses my old self who could keep up on the sprints, but mostly I am just proud of this boy who can outrun me in so many ways– physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. Children are meant to surpass their parents; each generation becoming stronger than the last.

I’m simply grateful that he circles back and matches my pace as the miles pass by.