Carrie’s 40th Birthday

Carrie turned 40 yesterday.  Hard to believe.  She was in junior high when Jim and I were married.  We met at Applebee’s in Lebanon, Mo. for lunch today to celebrate.

Carrie is also running her first 5k in October with the LIFE Runners in St. Louis.  I plan to run with her – either before or after the marathon run (can’t remember the schedule).

She asked me when we first spoke about the race if she’d get a race number – she joked, that otherwise no one will believe she did it.  At that time, I told her  that I wasn’t sure if that race would have numbers since it is organized by our team and is not part of the official St. Louis Rock and Roll races scheduled.  She said that was okay – she’d do it anyway.

So today as part of her 40th celebration, I gave her my race number from my second half marathon in New York and because she has already run numerous “life marathons” with all that she’s had to deal with in her life yet still reaches out to help others, I gave her one of my medals and told her she was already a medalist from way back.  Frankly, she’s a gold medalist (I don’t have one of those to give her but if I did it would be hers).

Carrie is a Mother who lacks no courage.  She will always be someone I look up to for her perseverance, courage and relentless ability to overcome anything.

We had a great time together today.  It was short but always fun to be with them.