Part of Anna's Story

Despite Anna's physical limitations, she believes she can do anything and everything.  For example, Rich was thinking of running a road race a couple of weekends ago.  There was a walk at the same time so he asked me if I wanted to do the walk with the girls while he ran.  While I would have run the race myself, someone needed to stay with the girls.

Me:  "Hey, do you guys want to walk 3 miles while Daddy is running that race next weekend?"
 
Anna:  "How far is the run?"

Me:  "5 miles."

Anna:  "I can run 5 miles.  Why don't we do the run?"

Now let's rewind to a few weeks before this when I took the girls out for a walk after dinner while Rich was mowing the lawn.  Or what's left of the lawn.  We're 2+ miles into the walk with less than a quarter of a mile to home and Anna is exhausted.  But she's still plugging along.  Then she tells me she's so tired she feels nauseous, so we stop and rest.  I ask her if she wants me to call Daddy to pick us up.  "No, I can do it."  And she does.  Without complaining.

So we decide to participate in the 3 mile walk while Rich takes on the 5 mile run.  We've had an extremely hot and humid summer here.  That morning was humid but there was cloud cover which was helping to keep the heat down.  As soon as the walk/run starts, the clouds blow away and we're in the sun.  Five minutes into the walk Anna's face is red.  A minute later someone asks if we've walked a mile yet.

This was a HUGE mistake, I think to myself.

At the first mile mark, there's a water station.  Cold water in cups.  I take mine and slowly pour it over Anna's head.  She's not a big water drinker but I force her to take in as much as possible.  We plug along.  There's more water, albeit warm, at the second mile mark.  I'm not even checking our time.  Other walkers have passed us when we've stopped at the water stations.  I don't even care if we come in last.  The goal is to simply finish.  Even I'm hot, but no one is complaining.  

We cross the finish line in under an hour.

The Fire Dept. has opened a hydrant and there's a fine mist of cold water spraying across the pavement.  Anna stands in it until she's completely soaked.  We need to stop at the grocery store on our way home, but I don't have the heart to tell her not to get too wet.

I don't know where this spirit comes from.  Her ability to continue on even when she's exhausted.  While I tell the girls they can do anything, I always try to be realistic.  So when Anna stated she could participate in the five mile run, I reminded her of our after-dinner walk.  Some day she may be able to run a race, possibly a five mile race, but not in the heat and humidity without any training.  That's not a good idea for anyone.  

I've always said that after sleep deprivation, the most difficult parenting aspect of triplets is seeing them as individuals and allowing that individuality to bloom.  (Yes, I used to dress them the same.  Because it was super convenient, and I didn't have anyone asking how I decided to dress each girl.  There was no false sense of favoritism from others.)  There are times and situations when they are automatically lumped together because sometimes all three are very much the same but with small variations.  When there's a big difference, like at school, it's a shock to my system even though it shouldn't be.

Perhaps not be singled out, perhaps being a triplet has benefited Anna in ways we'll never fully know.