Sofia: who does that?!

This is Sofia shocking response at 8am when I got home from 4:20am flight, getting up 2:40am, and announced that I’m going for a short run.

I know…. Rolling eyes.

But I needed it to feel it’s a normal day.

It was an easy run, jogging, in my usual route.

The first 3 miles felt off but I found my comfort feeling after that.

Then shower and breakfast. I felt myself again.

Only to crash at 11am and took an hour nap before resuming to usual Sunday programming.

Errands.

Lunch.

Nap and reading, mostly reading.

Meal prep: blueberries chia jam. Multigrain rice.

Massage.

More prep. curry chicken with vegetables over rice. Yogurt.

Now time in bed to continue and probably finish my book.

During this trip with Lizzy and had a aha moment on how much values we are passing to our kids by daily interactions, especially when with others. Few illustrations:

• One kid did not stay with the group at the hotel. So we chatted about possible reason why. Through going through each option, it tells a lot about that girl’s family situation and value.
• I was chatting with the only Chinese parent in the group who doesn’t speak Portuguese. Lizzy asked me what we talked about. I said nothing important. She wouldn’t be my friend in life. Yet I am respectful and social with her, and help out when needed with the language. I also told Lizzy that one of the biggest advantage or benefit of a good job is that you get to meet interesting people, have interesting conversations, people that you can learn from and inspire by.
• The same parent told us she doesn’t eat dinner. This concept is foreign to Lizzy and she kept asking why. family meals are big thing in our family, no matter how late they get home, I always sit with them for dinner to chat about our day. It’s one of their highlight of the day, and mine too.
• The boy was making an annoying sound with a horn. To us, to other parents, to his mom. The mom tells him to stop but he doesn’t. He kept on, annoying everyone around. The mother looked powerless, and I wonder really?! You can’t even make a 9 years old boy stop annoying others?!
• We didn’t attend the last dinner with the team, although we spent all lunches and breakfast with them.We were both tired and didn’t want to go so we didn’t go, and we didn’t feel guilty. People pleasing is a dangerous path.
• There’s a new team mate. She’s tiny, always smiling, positive, even after very hard swims. She came back from 100 meters back stroke saying (smiling) that after the first 50, her legs were dead, her arms were dead, but she kept going. She’s such an inspiration and Lizzy went to give her a high five in her next event.
• The Chinese parent learn that the parent organizer is a single mom of 3 but still volunteered to be the team parent. The Chinese parent suggest that maybe when organizing an event, we could split the cost to cover hers, to thank her. I said I’m not sure that is necessary nor even nice. I would be offended that others monetize my time and kindness. I would rather get a sincere thank you than small money. I told the interaction to Lizzy and Sofia. Sofia got it, Lizzy not sure.

I know nature plays a big role into forming a person, but parenting or the person one spend the most time with probably takes a big role into the person we see at 18.