Biggest Splash!

This last weekend consisted of a myriad of activities.  Wedding Shower, Summer Movie Night at our house, visit from Auntie Nessie, softball tournament, and the 14th annual Rachel Hanna Swim Olympics, with the Biggest Splash! contest.  This year my sister was in town and she and my mom took the boys to the Olympics.  This family friendly event is held every year at our local pool in honor of a little girl who has gone to heaven.   As I arrived at the event to pick up my children, I heard screams of "Go Miles!".  Turns out I had JUST missed his attempt at winning the Biggest Splash! contest.  Yep, the little two-year old dare-devil leapt off of the lifeguard stand and into the depths of the cool blue water without an inkling of fear in his eyes.  When Carter was two at Rachel's Olympics he was too busy kissing Macey and splashing in the water.  Not Miles.  He wanted to make his statement.  

Carter and Macey at the Olympics.

Miles' Big Splash!

Life is a lot like the Biggest Splash! contest.  We all have our chance to make our mark.  Some do it early on in life, and others take the leap when they're older.  Some do it year after year, like the Hanna family and serve as a beacon of hope to others suffering in tragedy.  Some never take the plunge and get hope from others that test fate.  Some go in with both legs crossed and a prayer, while others just simply shoot straight into the water like a pencil.  

One never knows what life will throw at them, but it's how we choose to deal with the hand we're dealt that matters.  The Hannas make their splash by honoring the legacy of their daughter, their family, and the importance of love.  They host the Olympics, caretake a garden, and offer support to others in times of hardship.  Sometimes the Biggest Splash! isn't about the size of the splash, but who gets a bit wet in the aftermath.  Because of Greg and Sherri, the lives of so many families are more enriched.   Year after year, we are reminded of how important our family is, our kids are, and quite frankly how much we have to be thankful for.  We are graced by the presence of people who have chosen to pay it forward and shine as examples.  They've made the Biggest Splash!, year after year by honoring their daughter, their family, and all of us.  

Miles, the Hanna Family, and the rest of the Sportsmanship award winners!

While I know that Miles' splash truly signifies that I may have my hands full, I also know that his determination, eagerness, and bravery had an affect on others.  He's already making his splash in the world.  It might not of been the biggest, but he made his mark.  

As summer winds down, I just count my blessings and remember that my with my family, and in my classroom is the place I have a chance to make my Biggest Splash!.  Last night we had my mom, sister, and the Hiltons over for dinner.  After the meal, I set up a projector to play a movie on the side of our house.  Those four little boys joined together on an air mattress on the lawn and enjoyed a summer show.

Even if summer is almost over and the pools will close, there's time every day to make your Biggest Splash!  

Family

Last winter Bradley's Grandma Cora and I had a discussion about family and the pace of life.  The conversation ended with her saying, "Well, if we have not our family left on this earth when we go, we have not left a legacy have we?".   In her own way, without directly saying it, she was proclaiming her prideful love of her family.  Because of the union she and her late husband had, the world is a better place with three hard working children, seven grand-children, and 21 great-grandchildren.  All in different places spatially, religiously, chronologically, but all from two people.

The "Grands" and "Greats" - only part of the legacy.  

This last week I witnessed the honesty of Grandma's logic at a family reunion on my mother's side.  40 people gathered.  Those 40 were the legacy left by my mother's parents.  It is truly amazing that from only two people, such a wonderful legacy has grown.  Although they have left this earth, their legacy has lived on through these amazing people I get to call "family".  All soooo different.  From all ends of the country, age ages 2 - 70+, everyone from a Fish and Game worker, to professional violinists, to a Radiologist at Stanford, to a college freshman.  Our family, my grandparents' legacy, gathered for one week, at a 100 year old YMCA resort in the Adirondack mountains of upstate NY.  There was no cell-phone service, TV, air-conditioning, 21st century mattresses, and barely any Internet.  Yet, all of the cousins played together as a unit seamlessly.

Ages 2 - 19 - the "Greats"

My children went from breakfast to fishing with Bradley, to shuffleboard, to lunch, to beach time, to treasure hunting, to dinner, to baseball, to ice cream, to shuffleboard, to bed.  Once a day the entire group joined up for a large activity.  Two nights we played baseball, one night we roasted marshmallows, and another night we were treated to a concert by our cousins.  Although I have only a few of the family member's phone numbers in my cell phone, and only see or talk to them every three years, it didn't matter because we were all connected.

I have been going to Silver Bay since I was only four or five years old.  I loved, loved, loved, it and made lifelong friends there.  As a parent, I get to see Silver Bay through the eyes of my boys.  Within 48 hours they were running around the porch of the Inn as if they had gone there for years.  They owned the baseball diamond and played shuffleboard like old cronies.

After our first two trips were done I joked about hoping that my children didn't turn into demons again during the next two trips, and I promised that we would use Yelp! a bit better.  In all honesty, the children were very well behaved on our last two trips, but we did not have to use Yelp on the last trip because at Silver Bay there are no options in food, and everyone just comes to expect to have to detox after a week of pre-prepared and highly genetically modified sustenance.

As I reflect on a week with extended family and the words of Grandma Cora, I can only smile looking at our two boys and know that our legacy has already started.