...life...journey...: We all should have our twin...

...life...journey...: We all should have our twin...:                    As soon as we found out that we were going to have twins in addition to our three older children, we discovered many...

We all should have our twin...

         

 As soon as we found out that we were going to have twins in addition to our three older children, we discovered many life truths that keep coming up, even now that our twin daughters have their own children.

From the moment the doctor told us that we were expecting, not one, but two babies, the immediate reaction was, what are we going to do? I asked my husband, we have only one crib, the Wedge wood blue (which our three older children used), I could hear my voice, anxiously confused, worrying more about the furniture than the fact that there were two babies in my womb.

Deeply, I felt disoriented, there was something that bothered me about the twinship deal.  I did not confide this to my husband, he was too bubbly, happily-silly and I swear, he was not walking the road, he was walking on the clouds.

When I got home, my eleven year old neighbor friend, after hearing the news, asked me if I was happy.  She had to see something in my words and face to ask me such a question.   I don't know, I answered...  After a brief silence from both sides, I layed back on my bed, as if in a shrink office, and confided in this young girl that I felt it was going to be very difficult to raise these two human beings into independent, strong, loving-each-other persons.  This was probably some article I read in a doctor's office; and the challenge frightened me.

Once at home after the hospital stay, everything was double.  Yet I was very strict about giving each baby its time and place.  From then on I refused to call them "twins", for me, they were Claudin and Lucinda, two little girls who happened to be born the same day and hour, only eight minutes apart.

As they grew up, we saw these two very individual little girls, even though people would think they were identical, they were not, and precisely because they were not, they had identical haircuts, wanted to have the same dresses, if possible, in different colors, sometimes, at their choice, they would have identical tricycles or Communion dresses.

In their first birthday, we gave Claudin a puzzle and a box of tools; we noticed she loved to challenge hereself to put things together.  Lucinda liked to fancy herself with clothes-picks and anything colorful she could put around her neck and head.  We enjoyed how different they were.

In Kindergarten they decided they wanted to go in the morning session.  Then First or Second Grade, they decided to go to different classes.  And so went on; we let them choose that part of the school deal.

When it came the time to go to the University, I was afraid they would be separated after so many years they shared every moment of their lives.  My husband and I said nothing about it.  They did apply to very different schools and I am pretty sure they were accepted likewise.  Yet, when the decision came, they were going to the same University since their main interest was the athletics program they had.  Uffff!  What a relief that was, at least for me.  It was so easy, if I may say that, when they were together, we did not have to worry as much.

Yes, the athletic department is what they had in common and I will not go into that, since you can find out on your own, from much a reliable source, treat yourself to fun/interesting reading in:  http://currenttempo.blogspot.com.

It is very difficult to sum up the life of these two wonderful individuals.  There are tons of stories from us and them as they travel their lives together.  Now, two wonderful "mamitas" with three little toddlers, they still manage to be together, not only for their favorite activities - one of them Halloween, but to be able to continue running, the LOVE of their life.  I see them struggling to run together, fortunately they are married to two wonderful runners they met in NCState, they are the perfect companions for them, for they understand their needs, their love to each other, their love for running, responding to them with their unconditional love for them.

Today, I shared another wisdom of their twinship life road.  Claudin ran her first Marathon, a long 26.2 miles, thanks to her own goal and challenge.  Even though she always preferred the short runs, because her thing was speed, where Lucinda's was distance, each one seemed to continue with the first trait we could see from a very early age.  Today Claudin made Lucinda's day unforgettable and a very happy one, yet Claudin was the one that ran.  I still remember the time when Claudin was interviewed by a reporter for her first place in the Md State competition.  She was crying and very sad. When the reporter asked her, whay was she so unhappy, she replied that her sister should have got the title, not herself, since the event was her sister's and she could not run it due to an injury, the event was not her own.  "I just got a good run in a good day, but it's still not fair".

Lucinda told me today, how she jumped in Claudin's miles in the USMC marathon, since she just had a baby five months ago, yet she felt so happy to run right  beside Claudin.  Just when Claudin was done with their encouraging chatting, Lucinda told her how proud she was of her and that she had to leave her alone those last three miles, because "she had to get her victory, on her own..."

They both claim their love and success in running to their mentor and beloved "Papi", who shared with them not only the love for the hundreds of miles he run, regardless of anything, but for he saw in them a team that we all envy for they are who they are, because they have each other and that is powerful and a special blessing.   I guess, that's why he said to me, "...it would be nice if we all whould have our own twin..."

Marine Corps Marathon por Lucinda Smith (Trad al idioma Castellano por MTCHull)

Life's Current Tempo: Marine Corps Marathon: a poster of this picture hung framed in our basement for years. it was risky business, hanging such a big print on the wall of a room that...

MARINE CORPS MARATHON

(Translation into Spanish by MTCHull, 10/2013)

Un poster de esta fotografía colgó en la pared del sótano en nuestra casa por muchos años.  Era un asunto comprometedor, ahí el póster grande en la pared de nuestro cuarto de juegos infantiles, así es que tarde o temprano, ese cuadro apareció con una rajadura que parecía una tela de araña.  Por supuesto, todos nos negamos a saber cómo sucedió.  Yo, personalmente, bloqueé de mi memoria al mismo tiempo que destruía la evidencia.  Mis padres nunca le cambiaron el vidrio, probablemente por falta de tiempo.  (Mi esposo y yo, tenemos un SOLO niño y todavía están dos abrigos en mi auto esperando ser despachados a la lavandería!).  Mirando esta imagen, ahora, todavía veo ese telaraña en la esquina inferior de la foto -claro, ahora es casi lógico, ya que de esto, son veinte años después.

En 1986, yo tenia cinco años, cuando mi "Papi"corrió su primer maratón The US Marine Corps Marathon.  Nosotros lo esperábamos cerca a la Meta, entre cientos de familias que esperaban reunirse también con sus héroes "filipides".  Cuando se reunió con nosotros, me dio un fuerte abrazo que hizo crujir la "frazada" plyester de mylar que abrazaba sus hombros, mientras yo reconocía el dulce y familiar olor a amoniaco del sudor de sus esfuerzos.  En realidad, nunca lo vi correr; solo recuerdo la sal cristalizada en las ranuras de su cara y el recuento de su experiencia de cada milla que había recorrido.   A través de sus historias, corrí docenas de maratones en mi mente.  A este importante evento anual del Cuerpo de Infantería Norteamericano lo llaman el "Maratón de la Gente" yo la llamo, el "Maratón de mi Papi".  Oh, el corrió otros Maratones - calificando en las de Boston varias veces; sin embargo, ésta siempre fue Su maratón, se sentía como en "en su casa" (literalmente), ya que vivimos como a 20 millas hacia el norte del Rio Potomac, desde el punto de la meta final, el monumento a Iwo Jima, añadiendo que también era Marino de Infantería y a todo dar, intensamente leal y testarudamente resistente, así es que ahí lo tienen.

Mírenlo, no le pasan los años, así es como lo tengo en mi mente; un cuadro de salud, además de tener esa media sonrisa en su cara.  ¿podría yo reproducir esa imagen mientras corro? - desgraciadamente no.  Siempre me encuentro con mis hombros agachados con la fatiga, mi boca abierta y mi quijada hasta el suelo sin poder vencer a la gravedad.  Aún así, esta fue la fotografía de mi padre que me inspiró a correr un maratón, (eso y la obligación inferida de ser corredora, hija de un padre que corría maratones).  De cualquier manera, esta la fue la imagen que siempre corría s mi lado, mientras entrenaba para mi primer intento de larga distancia.  Mírenlo otra vez, como el "sueño Norteamericano" personificando su dicho de  "trabaja fuerte y puedes alcanzar cualquier meta que se te antoje."  Aun el fotógrafo compuso estratégicamente la toma con el Capitolio de escenario; hasta se puede casi escuchar a Bruce Springstein cantando, Born in the USA (Nacido en EEUU).

Cuando comencé a correr durante mis años secundarios, la gente me preguntaba cuándo correría yo un maratón.  Mi respuesta fue entonces, a los 25.  Parecía un buen numero y además, muchos años en el futuro, sea lo que fuere, estaba determinada a hacerlo.  Fue lo primero que puse en mi "bucketlist" o sea, lo haría antes de morir.  Mi sueño era correr mi primer maratón con mi melliza Claudín y mi padre, o sea, los tres corredores de la familia.  Si hubiera cumplido mi sueño, podría haber sido posible, pero lo postergue hasta mis 30 años y para entonces, esa ventana se cerró para todos nosotros.  Son cinco años desde que se fué y ahora tengo un bebé de cinco meses, cuyos ojos sólo pueden ser de su abuelo materno.  Ahora, es el momento de Claudín, mi melliza y mejor amiga de la vida; cuando ella sintió que el momento la llamaba a correr por primera vez sus 26.2 millas consecutivas, además de coincidir con el aniversario de nuestro padre, ella lo considero solo con una opción, y era la de correr el Maratón de los Marinos de Infantería el 27 de Octubre. 2013.  Hubiera sido tan lindo correr con ella, pero algunas cosas las tenemos que hacerlas solas.  De todas maneras, tengo la certeza que ella no estará sola en esta carrera; el viento la empujará por la espalda, siendo nuestro "Papi" que la empujará en toda la ruta.

...life...journey...: Any morning in the Andes of Bolivia.

Any morning in the Andes of Bolivia.

This is a photograph I keep on taking over and over again. 

 I am always amazed the changes that occur in every fraction 

of a second and just a glance away from our eyes.

It is my reminder that with every change

there is a new beginning.

MTCH/2013