Friday, January 22, 2010

The experience is the 12 foot trophy

Wow, is it Friday already? Time has certainly flown by this week. It seems like moments ago we woke up on Monday morning. Well, there won't be too much time to reflect on what happened to all of that time as now we have to fight through a day of work and school before making our way to Austin.

Yes, Austin.

Tomorrow morning the kiddos have their very first Tae Kwon Do tournament of the year. They are pretty excited about it. They heard that the sparring winners would be receiving 6 foot tall trophies and their eyes are filled with hope and glory.

Will they win?

I don't know. I haven't seen the competition. The good news though is that both Graham and Sydney have really grown as competitors. I would say that their technical skills are twice that of what they were prior to entering the previous tournament. However, in this tournament, the stakes are higher there is a bigger prize at the end. It will be very interesting to see how they deal with the additional pressure. At the very least, it will be great experience for them to work through.

As always, their is no pressure to win in the Dungan family. We are very clear about that. Their measuring stick is in the mirror. We want them to do their best. If a 6 foot trophy lies at the end of their effort, great, but honestly, I would be just as happy if they finished dead last as long as they gave it their all and did their best. Their is much more to be learned from defeat. Hey look, I am not trying to be noble here. I credit much of my success to my greatest failures.

You probably also noticed that I am no longer playing professional golf - and yet I still credit those two feeble years on tour as some of my greatest. I learned a lot about myself, my limits, and what was important in life. I am hoping that the kiddos can begin learning those little life lessons through competition as well - win or lose.

So, there you have it - big tournament in Austin. We need to be there (3 hours away) first thing tomorrow morning and believe it or not, Lynley and I still haven't figured out when we are leaving or how long we will be staying. We may leave tonight or we may leave early tomorrow morning.

Who knows?

It is just another Dungan adventure.

I am just hopeful that we all find a pile of purpose at the end of this journey.

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