The tour has left the building.....

I'm slogging it out on my own with the kids. This may sound like a trial but it's not. They are good kids. Andrew and Emily have put up with alot from us this summer. With all the riding we've had to do, they have seen so many babysitters and Emily is starting to rebel with it all. One more mention of a babysitter coming and she almost goes into hysterics.

Yesterday seemed like the last straw and I truly felt that parental guilt when I had shipped them off to be with their cousins overnight so I could get one last long ride in early in the morning...and then I needed a babysitter for the Highland Christian school golf outing. Our most-trusted and great sitter Aimee who is more like a nanny than a sitter came. When I left, Emily was crying and weeping giant elephant tears, but when I came home she was in her element...doing crafts and having fun. Emily is a great actress, but I am sure her tears were partially real. She had watched her beloved daddy leave Friday for Sea to Sea and the uncertaintly of it all unnerved her...then she got practically no sleep with her cousins. She was frazzled when I left, but her mood had definitely improved when I returned. I was relieved. We are now spending an unending week together...they will like to see me gone by the end of it when we pick up Dirk in Omaha and trade places with him.

Dirk left for Sea to Sea on Friday....it was quite a jittery experience for me seeing him leave. The tour has now left the planning stages is in the implementation stage.

He arrived safely, is staying with his cousin Keith and has assembled and gotten his bike together. He had is 40th bday just two weeks ago. He lost 25 lbs, is in the best shape of his life and looks pretty great. His attitude is good and he is an amazing dad and worker. Wow, I can definitely say I am so proud of him that I could burst. He works just so he can help others and he is in his element. He is an example of love and persistence for me.

Now I am in the pre-exam jitter stage...am I prepared enough, did I do enough, did I do the right things?
Yes and no. I haven't had this kind of "pre-exam" jitter since I left grad-school. Then there's the point when you just trust that what you have is enough, and what backs you up is sufficient. This is when the God trust kicks in and you say to God, "I am trusting you to use what I have for what you want me to use it for....come what may...si Allah djebi"....(this phrase I learned in W. Africa and is pular for, as God wills...I'm sure I've butchered the spelling but you get the idea....short sweet and to the point..."God willing"

I heard yesterday that one of the riders broke his collar bone in a fall. He was an entire tour rider.
Well that set me thinking too....Wow, this guy has put in a whole year of training and effort to raise his $ and do all the things he needed to do to get ready. ...And God is using him in a mightly different way than he would've imagined...I feel his pain without even being there or knowing him. God willing...God willing.

So today, I am taking the kids to the beach, God willing.
Let's cram as much quality family time in before I have to get on the bike and put on 950 miles in 12 days. Then my mind drifts to equipment,....Now I'm wondering, should I buy aerobars for the tour....yeek! I need to let it go!