It’s hardly about who finishes first, but rather what has been done to get you there

(Wednesday)

Achievement is something that isn’t based just upon what is done—but how one gets to a place. As well, it doesn’t matter if you finish the race, as long as you gave it your all when you could.

Once again we did the whole class thing. We went—we sat on our butts for three hours—and we returned home. Alex Miller had planned out a pretty decent day after school for us that included homework, project work, a run, and a movie after dinner. Thinking this all ideal, we proceeded with his plan. After lunch, which I was not impressed with at all, we took a siesta (nap) for about an hour—got up—started reading the difficult to comprehend homework for linguistics and wrote a very sloppy interpretation of it. It pissed us all off to be honest. This homework is ridiculous and hardly understandable without elaboration and we don’t receive that until after the homework is due—so I was getting fairly anger and we decided to put off project work to go running. Alex Miller and I ran—and we ran—and we ran. Two and a half miles later we finished up the trail—walked back home—showered—and started on more homework that was much easier and much more comprehensible. Maricarmen came home around 9:20, fixed us a delicious dinner of pasta and small chunks of hamburger (maybe?) and we topped it all off with some yogurt, water, and delicious Mahou beer. We’ve gotten smart our beer buying now. We bought two liters of it for less than we would have paid for a six-pack, which equals up to just over a liter when combined—so we definitely got the better deal. After dinner we watched Walk Hard, which I recommend to all you fine readers—quite the funny movie.

At the end of the movie, the main character, John C. Reilly sings a song called “A beautiful ride.” The song is all about his life and the things that he has done—finally concluding that this life isn’t about all of the accomplishments, but rather, what you’ve done to get there. Earlier, I looked into the mirror and felt like I barely recognized myself. I’m not little Nathan Dale anymore. I’m getting older and it’s a good thing. I’m happy with who I am because I think that I’ve made wise enough decisions to get me where I am today and I’m happy about that. But more than that, I’m happy about the road that I’ve taken, the bridges that I’ve crossed and burned, the rivers that I’ve waded, the houses I’ve helped build, and the people that make my life so sweet. It’s been a beautiful ride thus far and I look forward to the years that are to come and pass all like scenery on a highway flitting by a mile a minute.