Flashback Friday

My family and I came to the United States in 1991. I can't recall the airplane ride, or the peanuts. Or did I have pretzels? Or maybe nothing as none of us spoke English, aside from the English my dad learned as a nurse back in Thailand.

There are three very prominent things that I do recall during those early days. We lived in an apartment closed to a school that had a little playground. On that playground was a slide that was huge to me at that time, being a little girl at that time. I remembered thinking, wow, I am so high up. I also remembered seeing a glass window for the first time. I was amazed and speechless to see a piece of clear glass to separate the interior from the outside elements. Finally, I remember seeing a bed for the first time. It had seemed so high at that time, and how weird that people would sleep on that.

I've seen a few things since then, and though I am not always as enamored by the little, simple things, here's to finding joy in the small things, the things that we see every day.

Kaolee

Flashback Friday

Growing up, we never had a dog, or cat. I had always wanted a dog, but money was tight, and we didn't have money to feed another mouth. The idea of a pet was also foreign to my parents. The idea that we would have an animal in the house just for the pleasure of having one was unknown to them. 

However, we did have a pet rooster once a long time ago. We didn't eventually eat this rooster. We kept this rooster solely for the pleasure of having him.

I lived in California for a period of time. We were in Fresno, living in an apartment where there was also a huge number of Hmong people living there. The manager there was Hmong as well. Behind our apartment was a canal of such width that one would not be able to cross or jump without a bridge. One day, my brother was walking along the canal when out of nowhere a rooster flew across the canal. Amazed, he took that as a sign and brought the rooster home.

From that day forth, the rooster became our pet. Since we lived in an apartment, the rooster was kept inside. We don't wear shoes inside our home, and my mom was very neat, so I don't recall the sanitation situation, but I would suspect that my mom was very busy cleaning up after this rooster. 

We loved our rooster, and was excited to have a pet, as uncommon as this was.

At some point, we moved to North Carolina, and our rooster came with us. This was a cross country trip, and the rooster rode in my dad's white van. My dad put newspaper on the van floor and the rooster took this long trip gracefully. 

Once in North Carolina, we stayed with my aunt and uncle, and they had a chicken coop and so our rooster accompanied other chickens and roosters. There were animals that would come at night and tried to find food. Sadly, one night, our rooster got scratched up pretty bad. I recall my brother washing our rooster's scratches and trying to clean him up.

At that point, he was getting old, and he was not able to heal from his wounds, and would die some short time later. We never had another pet ever again.

Kaolee

Flashback Friday

In middle school, we lived in a house that was beside a large red brick building. The building sat back further from the street then our house, and in our yard, we would spend all afternoon and evening kicking the ball against the brick wall. Oh how nice that yard was!

It was flat, and we would play long, Sunday games of kickball. There was enough room for three bases, and we would play until the sun was too tired. And soccer. That was very big in our family growing up, so we would split up the kids, and play soccer. I learned how to properly kick the ball, although truth be told, I still haven't fully mastered the kick. Out there, I learned about people like Pele and Romario. 

There was honeysuckles that lined the end of our yard, and when they started popping out, my cousin and I would spend time tasting the sweetness they gave so freely. In that yard, we also had blackberries. There weren't a lot, and we cleaned them out way before they could be ripe enough.

Oh how I loved that backyard, and all the memories that were made in that backyard. Our current yard is quite a beauty too, and the land beside us currently houses two hungry calves that we visit on our way to the mailbox.

We hope you are having a good Fourth of July!

Kaolee

Flashback Friday

I figure that I would start a new series, and this one is not about the present or future, but about the past. A long time ago when I used to run, I blogged about my running. Blogging was still really new, and it was really fun to connect with other people. I actually did make a friend who we are still Facebook friends. Today's post is actually from that time, and is a post that I wrote on my blog. It was about the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half-Marathon. Enjoy!

My net time was 2:04:something. I remember looking at my watch at the 10-mile mark and realizing that my goal of falling under 2 hours was just not going to happen. The hills just kept coming and my foot was hurting. When I crossed the finish line, I was very disappointed. I thought that I had trained hard enough and did my runs on hilly routes. Then all of a sudden, this. It was just not right, but I realize that 13.1 in 2:04 is a great feat. I should be thankful that I'm able to run. So here's a short recap.

The morning was cold, but I timed getting to the start perfectly. I got to my corral with about 15 minutes to spare and waited with everyone. Then all of a sudden, everyone started moving and I realized that after so many miles, after so many days, after so many showers, after so many stretches, here I am. I've got 13.1 miles to prove that I have been training.

I remember the first mile was 9:30. I didn't worry too much since I knew that I could make it up later. I just kept running, but not too hard since I knew that I still have a ways to go. I looked for people to pace after and once I realized that I could run a little faster, I passed him/her.

I took water only at 2 stations. I wished I had taken more water. A part of me just didn't want to stop and bother with the water, but next time I will definitely stop!

Mile 6 lasted forever. It was the end of the flatness and the beginning of the hills. At this point, I realized that I had to change my goal and accept anything slower than 2:00. Some point after this, I saw Krista! It was much needed as I have started to doubt everything and just felt down. My foot also started feeling sore, the kind of sore that you feel from standing all day. It wasn't like I was standing all day the day before. But I saw Krista and wished I had stop so we can take a picture together. I just remember seeing her and I just kept going. Then I was like, "Wait, I should have stopped. I'm sure the time difference was going to be minute!" But on I went and she must have jumped back in her car because the next thing I know, she was right beside me in her car. The right lane had been closed for the runners, but the left lane was still open. She followed me in her car for awhile until the police directed her off at which point she had to take the highway to get to the finish line. That was the last time that I saw her since traffic going into the exit was so crazy and finally when she got to the finish line, I already passed through.

I stretched out after I got some food and then I walked back to the Marta station (the train station) so I can get back to my car. My car was closer to the starting line. Since I had to wait for the train, I stretched out really well. The last thing that I wanted to do was take an ice bath so I made sure I stretched everything. On the train ride back, I realized how crazy it is for me to run from Chamblee to downtown Atlanta. I run right past Georgia State's Alderhold Building which is just plain weird. Usually I drive past there, but once a year, I run past it. Crazy thought.

Went home. Shower. Ate a little food. Missed the Lover (The boy was working today). Long Story. Made my salad. Went to friend's house. Ate great food. Came home.

I'm going to run the Atlanta Half again next year. And it's going to be faster. My little promise to myself. I'm also going to get more crowd support. Seeing someone from church there was wonderful and then seeing Krista there was awesome! It pumped me out and it just made me smile hearing someone say my name. I swear, next year I'm going to have my name on my shirt! But thank you so much Krista. You really made my day and my run. Also, thank you so much for the pictures below!