July 6, 2009

Hi folks - just thought you might like this picture that Charlie's teacher sent home from school with him today. She took it while we were on our beach trip on Friday.

During the course of the day, the kids joined in with some races - as per normal, Charlie joined in happily, but came last every time!

Then they were all lined up to do hopping races. Charlie finds hopping more than once or twice almost impossible - hopping makes him really breathless, really quickly. (Understandable, I guess - it makes me pretty breathless, and I've got all four chambers of my heart!)

Anyway, the teachers know this, and said he could run instead of hop.

Normally, Charlie's 'run' is the equivalent of every other kid's 'fast walk', but as the others were gallantly trying to hop on the sand, he streaked (well, almost streaked!) away, and crossed the line first!

He was absolutely delighted to have won a race (as you can see from the picture!), but more than that, I was really surprised at the reactions of the other children.

I was expecting lots of 'Yes, but you were bound to win because you were allowed to run instead of hop' kind of comments, but the kids racing with him just accepted it without question, and all the children watching were chanting 'Go Charlie, Go Charlie' as he was running and cheered when he crossed the line first.

We are SO fortunate with the group of children in his class - they just accept Charlie for who he is, and tweak their games so he can join in.

He told me the other day that his friends know all about his special heart, and they let him have a headstart if ever they are doing races at playtime, and to quote Charlie: 'Sometimes they let me be the winner... even if I've come last.'

We couldn't really ask for more, could we?

That's about it for today - Dad is still feeling pretty ok since his chemo, which is great news. I'm hoping to take him and Mum to the Mall later this week if he has a good day, which will be a nice break for both of them! (I think Dad's secretly looking forward to getting his hands on one of the electric scooters they have available at the Mall!)

Also, it's my eldest niece's birthday today - she's 20. Wow - that makes me feel SO old. It only seems five minutes since she was born... and if the past twenty years have flown that quickly, I dread to think how fast the next two decades will fly by! Happy birthday Beth!