This is a little crayon coloring piece I recently did on a very relaxing afternoon with my 3-year old grandson, Henry… very specific to his color choices.
This is a little conversation I had with Henry’s 6-year old brother Alex, and 7-year old brother William, that same afternoon… (and I assure you that the drawing and the conversation connect):
Alex: (Studying my Disney Princess Half Marathon medal) Grandma, so you didn’t come in 1st place in your Disney race. What place did you come in?
Me: I came in somewhere in the 5,000’s.
Alex: WHAT? Isn’t that kinda slow?
Me: Well, not really. I was happy to run and happy to finish.
Alex: (Not buying it) Can I even count that high? 5,000?
William: (Mr. Mathematics) Grandma, how many people ran in the race?
Me: (Ah, ha. A voice of reason) Well, 20,000 or so started and about 15,000 officially finished.
William: So you beat 10,000 people. (Addressing Alex) Grandma beat 10,000 people. That’s pretty good.
Alex: (Shaking his head and continuing to study my medal) This looks like you should have been at least 2nd. Or 3rd.
Me: Honey, when you run, you run for yourself. Thousands and thousands of people run for fun, for exercise, for a challenge. Super fast people win big races. I’m not super fast. But I have fun. And everyone gets the same awesome medal!
William: (Mr. Logical) Do you run against everyone or do they put you in groups for your age?
Me: Both. You run with and against everyone, but the results also tell you how you did compared people around your age.
Alex: (Hopping on this one) Did you win your age?
Me: Nope. I came in 89th of 517 women from 55-59 years old. And I came in 5,598 of 15, 803 runners… if you want to be specific!
William: (Mr. Statistics) That’s pretty good because you’re 59. (Thinking, thinking) What if you were 60?
Me: I didn’t check that. But I want you guys to remember that I had fun. I ran as fast as I could and had fun!
Alex: (Eternally optimistic) So next year you could win?
I was very happy that my 6-year old grandson Alex had such confidence in me. To be sure.
Then Alex turned his attention to the little coloring artwork.
Alex: Who colored this?
Me: I did. Henry told me what colors to use.
Alex: Hmmmmm.
Me: Do you like it?
Alex: Grandma, I have to tell you something…
Me: Yes?
Alex: Your coloring is way better than your running.
What was I just saying about confidence in me?
And that’s that.