herbiehancock

I hope you had a happy Sunday. These are a few of the things that made me smile today. A squirrel in the tree in my front yard chattered at me for taking his picture . I received some new photos of my older son pole vaulting at his track meet on Friday. I saw some bleeding heart flowers in my neighbor's yard. I had a piece of carrot cake with cream cheese icing . It took me eight pulls on the cord, but I finally got our twelve year old beast of a lawn mower to start. That one was a victory smile! Wild violets are growing next to the garage. I found a couple of buds on my daisy plants. I had a cold, sweet slice of a juicy watermelon. If you would like to participate in Smiley Sunday, click the badge below.

My older son pole vaulted for his college team at a track meet in Columbus, Ohio yesterday. Things went well for him. The girls' team won, the boys' team won, and he vaulted at 12 feet. As a result, he ended up placing 8th in the meet. This meant that he earned a varsity letter in his sport because of how well he did. A varsity letter as a freshman in college is a big deal. He was thrilled. His words to me, "It was awesome, Mom!" In two weeks, there is also the possibility that he will be traveling to Atlanta, Georgia for a meet there. He is looking forward to that possibility very much. I am thrilled for him, of course. His happiness is giving me a smile this Sunday. I was working at the library yesterday and wasn't at the meet, so I have no photos of it, but here are some photos of him vaulting from last year when he was on his high school team. To visit others who have found something to smile about on Sunday, or if you'd like to join in with your own...

Friday night, we drove to my son's college to watch him pole vault at his indoor track meet. I had never been to an indoor track meet before. All the track meets before this that I have attended have been outdoor events. The sports arena was a busy place with events happening at different times and in different areas on the track floor. From where we were sitting in the stands, I couldn't really take very good photos with the camera that I have, but that didn't stop me from trying, of course. I took a few to show the size of the arena and so that you could see all the different events going on. Click on the pictures to get a close up view of things. This is my younger son (closest to the camera), his girlfriend, and a neighbor friend of my sons sitting on the right side of me. My husband was sitting on the left side of me. Front and center and holding a pole for pole vaulting is my son talking to one of his former coaches. You can see him a little better in the second...

I heard from my older son today. He is away at college as many of you know. He sent a photo a friend took of him pole vaulting at a recent indoor track meet. When he vaulted last week, he cleared twelve feet and just missed making it over twelve feet six inches. At that meet he placed seventh place out of fourteen vaulters. As a freshman in a college-level competition, he was pleased about that. I'm pleased that he is pleased, of course. What I am even happier to report is that the cut above his eye has healed up nicely now. He was left with a scar, but he is doing fine. Mostly, it made me smile to get to hear his voice. Lord, for healing, for communication, for reassurance, and for the joy felt at hearing the voice of a loved one, let me be truly grateful.

As a follow up to my previous post, I have received, via the power of the internet, photos of my son's pole vaulting injury. If you would really rather not see his injury (and I can't say as I blame you for that!), you may not want to finish reading the rest of this post. I was under the impression that the cut he received was higher on the forehead. Now that I see where the pole made contact with his face, I must say I am both cringing and thankful. I am cringing at how close it came to his eye and thankful that it did MISS his eye. Motherhood is not for the squeamish. Ai-yi-YI-yi-yi! Yes, I know he will be fine. It will heal, but still it is hard for me to see this.