Special Olympics

Claire Mac had a very very very great day on Sunday, May 1st at the Special Olympics.

Claire has been participating in the Special Olympics for the past 6 or 7 years, and that has brought about a lot of stories and great memories. Our family calls it the best day of the year for a couple reasons. Throughout the year, Claire is always coming along to events to watch people in our family succeed or compete. For example she comes to my sporting events or my music performances. For Claire, these events are very hard for her to fit in at. Special Olympics season is the one part of the year where Claire is the one we are watching and focused on. She loves this day and it truly is the best day of the year for us.

Claire competed in two events this year: the 50 Yard dash, and the Softball throw.
Probably the most refreshing thing for our family is Claire's attitude about winning. She is more concerned about the color of her ribbon or medal that she wins than actually winning the "gold." In one instance two years ago, Claire won a Gold medal in the 100 Yard Dash. She was actually sad about this because she liked the color of the blue ribbon better and she wished she had that. This has taught us to think about what really matters and re-think our attitude towards situations in life.

For the first couple years that Claire was competing in the Special Olympics, she was placed in the 50 Yard walk. She actually got disqualified from it both times because she got so excited that she started to skip during the walk. Claire shows so much joy during the Special Olympics and it is enriching to be in such a positive environment and watch her have fun.

I love the spring season of Special Olympics, but still not as much as Claire does. It brings me deep joy to see her having so much fun and to see her childlike attitude. Claire is an amazing example for our family, and she has shaped who we are today. It is so cool to learn from her daily by looking at life from her perspective.