Proud Papa

I got up this morning early to go to the airport. My oldest granddaughter Adair was running the 2 mile race in the State track meet in Winter Park, just east of Orlando. I had rearranged my work schedule so that I could go. Yes, I know that I have graduation the next afternoon, but I really didn’t want to miss Adair’s first time running in the State track meet. She qualified last week for state by coming in 2nd in her region. It’s a great honor. Only 16 girls in the state will run the 2 mile in the 1A state finals. She went into the meet seeded as the 11th best based on her past times. Her goal was to place at least 8th so she could help score points for the team. She also wanted to run as fast as she could, but her main goal was to finish 8th or better.

So I flew into Tampa because the flights were full to Orlando and Daytona Beach. I rented a car and drove almost two hours to see her run. Tomorrow I have to get up about 3am and then drive back to Tampa. I’ll get home early, but graduation is tomorrow night. But back to the race. It started out fast. After the first of 8 laps, Adair was in the top 5, but I know that wouldn’t last. The pace was way to fast. Bu the end of the fourth lap, Adair was in 10th place and it looked like she was beginning to fall farther behind. I don’t know what happened, but by lap five, she had gained on the three girls that were ahead of her, and by lab six she had passed one of them. She continued to press until by the end of the race she was in 7th place, well ahead of those three girls. She had done it, she had accomplished her goal. Her dream was realized. Especially when she found out her time. She ran the two miles in 11:41. It was a new personal record for her, and topped the old school record by almost 12 seconds. She was ecstatic. Shoot, I was ecstatic as well. I was so proud and so happy. I really was one proud papa.

I imagine that what I felt tonight is a little like what Papa feels when He sees us reach our goals or realize a dream. If I can feel that good, I can’t even imagine what He feels like when He sees us reach our dreams. He is so good that He enables us to succeed. All that I could do was to cheer Adair on. He not only cheers us on, He runs the race with us, making us go faster. So, as I bask tonight in the success of my granddaughter, I know that He loves to bask in my success as well. Why shouldn’t he? He is my proud Papa too.