When I was in 6th grade my parents moved our family from Brownwood, Texas to Missouri City, Texas which is a suburb of Houston.  It was a big move for us.  We were small town folks moving to the city!  We moved at the end of March and after a few weeks at school I was invited to try out a track club.  I had never ran competitively before, so this was something new for me.  My parents took us over to Willowridge High School to see what this Wings track club was all about that my friend at school had told me about.

I remember that when we showed up we were very much in the minority there at track practice.  We talked to the coaches and they immediately sent us over to the race walk coach to talk to him.  My dad finally told them that were not race walkers.  Nothing against you if you do that for a sport, but we just weren't interested in seeing who could walk the fastest around a track.  I mean if you're trying to win a race you should at least run as fast as you can!

That first year we competed in Lincoln, Nebraska for the Junior Olympics.  I was on the 4×400 B team and the 4X800.  My relay team didn't place at Nationals, but what a fun experience that was for us.  I continued to run track for Wings for the next three summers.  The highest I placed during my time with them was at the Junior Olympics on California.  We placed 3rd in the nation and I kid you not I was the only white girl on the stand out of 8 teams with 4 runners on each team.  Love it!

My mom framed my medals from that year and they hung in my room during high school.  What happened in my track life from then on out is for another day and another post.  Boys, selfishness and my own priorities took over and that might be the biggest thing/talent I have ever wasted in my entire life.   I have held on to those medals over all the years.  When we lived in TN the frame was stuck away in the garage somewhere.  Our first house in Austin I hung it in the laundry room, and now I have no where to put it.

Aaron says I need to throw it away and move on.  To me it is more than that.  I look at this and am reminded about how I threw away a talent that God had entrusted me with.  I was good.  I was a good sprinter.  I seriously could have gone to college on a track scholarship and I let it all fall apart.  Now what do I have to show for it, just an old frame with old medals in it from when I was in 8th grade.  I feel as though I could have done so much more and I wasted it.

To me this frame is a constant reminder that we only get one shot.  When it's over, it's over.  I want to take what God has given to me and use it to the best of my ability.  I never want to look back on my life and old pictures and think about what could have been.  I want to look at the past and pictures of my life and see how far God has taken me.