Special Olympics

I have to admit that until Emma's teacher told me we would be going to the Special Olympics this year, the idea of Emma ever participating in the event had never crossed my mind. For one thing, she doesn't love crowds. She loves crowds of strangers even less. Not to mention that she's not particularly athletic and is more likely to refuse to participate than not.

But Emma continually surprises me. And yesterday was a surprisingly good day.

Instead of totally withdrawing, Emma participated and truly seemed to have a good time.

The Parade of Athletes was emotional for me. I teared up several times as the athletes marched in, the fans cheered, the law enforcement team ran the flame into the stadium and then several athletes made a final lap with the flame before lighting the torch in the center of the stadium. There was the Special Olympics pledge "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt" and the National Anthem sung by a sweet thing who did it better than I've heard at any professional ball game in a long time, and the games were declared open.

Emma's first event was the 50m dash. They had handed out small plastic bags for the kids to haul all their loot in and Emma categorically refused to let anyone hold the bag for her. So she ran her race with the bag in her hand. And she ran the whole thing.

OK. Toward the end it was more of a meander than a run, but she crossed the finish line. Then she wanted to run it again so she raced her Aunt Jennifer part of the way!

Next came the softball throw. And here's where we dropped the ball. The opening ceremonies had taken far longer than scheduled so everything was running behind. Emma's first event had started 45 minutes late. But her 2nd event did not. And we missed it. I had gone to the van to feed Drew, and everyone else was headed that way but didn't arrive in time. So, we know she threw the ball far and won 3rd place. She was very happy with her medal!

After that, we had some lunch and were planning to head out, but her teachers asked if she could participate in the 4x100 relay event. Another child who had been scheduled to participate had to leave early, and they needed one more runner. We had no idea if Emma would run, would hold the baton, would hand the baton over, etc., but we said "Sure".

We are so glad we stayed.

First off, our competition never showed, so the organizers decided to let us run against four middle school teams, but award the elementary division separately. So, imagine Emma lined up on her arrow in row 1 and four middle school aged boys lined up in rows 2-5. She looked like such a tiny peanut.

Then, when the gun went off, she took off. Except she was the 2nd runner. Brian had to catch her and bring her back so she'd be in position for the baton.

When Miranda rounded the corner, Emma took the baton and took off. Brian was holding her hand some to encourage her to run and to stay somewhat on course, but Emma did things her own way. At some point, she decided to see how the baton worked as a spy glass. She slowed down and held the baton to her eye. We were yelling "Run, Emma" and laughing all at the same time. And so was everyone else.

You have to experience it, but it was such a "safe" place. There was no mean-spiritedness. People laughed because it was funny, because the kids were just having fun and being themselves and because these kids know that the point is to play well, not to win.

So Emma makes it to her handoff and hands the baton off. Caleb takes it but is ready to hand it off to his dad, but his dad gives it back and away he goes.

When he gets to Colby, our anchor runner, things really got interesting.

First, Colby took off without the baton. His buddy grabbed him and got him back to his mom who was holding the baton. He tried again. (Keep in mind, there is an announcer talking through a loudspeaker the whole time, encouraging the kids - the middle schoolers had finished before Emma did). This time, he doesn't just run. He sort of runs/skips and waves his arms in circles as he heads for the finish line. Everyone was laughing, yelling "Go Colby", clapping and  laughing some more. The announcer comes back on and says "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be joyful in the attempt!" as Colby approaches the finish line.

It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Everyone met back at the finish line, laughing so hard our cheeks hurt! The kids were awarded their gold medals we took pictures of our athletes before heading for home.

We had such an amazing day. I was impressed by the camaraderie and friendliness of everyone there and by the respectful attitudes of the high school students who had volunteered as buddies for the day.

Emma and her teacher, Mrs. Irick, walking in the Parade of Athletes

Emma running in the 50 m dash

Emma's bronze medal

Emma waiting on her arrow for the relay race

The Gold Medalist!