Friday, April 13, 2012

Left-Handed Laughter

Lots of Exciting things going on.  Sorry I’ve been in and out of the loop the last few days with training updates and some stories.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t really realize how many people actually enjoyed and looked forward to these blog entries until some of the notes I’ve received lately.  I sometimes have thought I was just talking/typing to myself which is ok because the process of all this really has been good even just for me.   I appreciate everyone being a part of this and look to continue this journey and hopefully pick up a few other fans of dad along the way.


As far as training updates:
Monday I ran some trails behind our home for around 30 minutes trying to wear the puppy out.  I think I’m the only one who gets worn out, he just sprints ahead, looks back with the look of “will you hurry up”.  Hopefully I’m not as slow as he makes me appear. 
Tuesday I wanted to get a little bit of a longer run in so I extended my turn around point.  However, I’m not sure where the beautiful weather went, the cold wind and long sleeve shirts was a quick reminder that I should enjoy the sunny warm days a little bit more when we have them.  I ran a little over an hour along the country road with a few hills included to challenge a little bit.
Wednesday, I FINALLY got to Parkersburg in time to get my new running shoes at On the Run and Walk.  I suppose I had put that off long enough as several blog entries ago I mentioned I needed to do it.  I had to reward myself somehow for finally getting my crazy taxes organized enough to pass over to our uncle who happens to be a really good CPA and probably this time of year wants to hide from our tax help neediness.  With the move, getting rid of my agency, the rental properties etc, I’m sure I’m not his favorite relative during this tax season.  I just love all the places I stuck receipts that I “wouldn’t forget where I put them” during the move, which we all know how that turns out, exactly not knowing just “where” I placed them all.   It was good to see Dorsey Cheuvront who owns the store as he was always involved in every running event (still is) during my high school days.  It’s easy to take for granted when you are younger everyone who is involved with things because you don’t think twice about it, and realize later in your life when you’re busy yourself how much time people dedicated to things to make them as special as they were.
Yesterday (Thursday) I laced up my new shoes and hit the pavement.  I’ve got a little “course” figured out to be around 5 miles for some of my evening runs (sometimes I sneak in another little half mile loop).  I always love getting to this point in the run this time of the evening running back because the sun hits a little hill that has an older barn usually with cattle around…and it just always looks like the perfect picture for a country setting.


I had to laugh about this story I’ll share with you today.  It came up in a conversation I had with someone the other day and with it being “baseball season” for dad I assume it will be appropriate.

            Kelly (the youngest sister) was in Tee-Ball while I was in Little League.  (See, my parents claim the age gap between us because I was a wild terrorizer of a child and they weren’t so sure they could handle another one)  Maybe when I share those stories in the future you’ll agree with them, but for now we’ll just pretend that it isn’t true. 

            Kelly had a tee-ball game one evening and I’m assuming dad was working on a project of some sort because I went out in the back yard to toss Kelly some pitches to practice hitting before her game.  That’s when you know you grow up in the country with a large yard when the fear of hitting the house didn’t weigh too much on you because you had that much of an open area.  I had Kelly all in the right “stance” and gave her the” concentrate on the ball speech” and so forth.  Well, she kept swinging the bat but NEVER hit the ball.  I was getting aggravated and would tell her to “Choke up on the bat”…She starts coughing!  I didn’t even pick up on it the first few times she did it, and exactly why she was doing it.  My patience was probably wearing out and I stomped over to show her HOW to “Choke up on the Bat”, then I realized she literally thought I meant “CHOKING” (as the reference to her attempt at it was coughing) on the bat.  I then showed her to move her hands up on the grip of the bat.
            So after we took that step I pitched a few more balls to her, and still hardly hitting ANYTHING.  At that point I may have given up or at least given up to the point of going to get dad.  I walked into the house probably venting “Kelly is worthless at hitting..blah blah blah” (Sorry Kelly).  Dad proceeded to ask why and what’s wrong, so I told him to deal with it.  Dad proceeded to go outside and started laughing right away…. Apparently I had forgotten our little sister was Left Handed…and left handed people bat from the other side of the plate. 
            So after that little ordeal, I do believe Kelly started to hit the ball much better and I realized I needed to learn how to switch my normal way to do things to try to then be able to explain to her how to do things which always seemed backwards to me.  I still laugh sometimes when I hear the phrase “Choke up on the bat” because it reminds me again how literal we have to be when coaching kids and what we take for a general understanding means to someone else.


Braves Fans- Atlanta one year to see a game on Vacation
My Favorite Player was always Terry Pendleton because he had Dad's name, but I never would have been a good 3rd Baseman :)

 
We have already received our first “Dollar for Dad” from Parkersburg, WV. It was exciting to have that first envelope in the P.O. Box when I checked it!  I look forward to many more!


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

"Dollars For Dad" ****Please Share!

I seperated this Blog so you can share it individually...please tweet, post on facebook, re-post on your blog....however you can to spread the word!  We are making flyers to distribute and be able to graphically place in an Email to forward as well as pass out at events.  If you would like a copy of that flyer once complete please Email me at: MissySpangler22@yahoo.com.  Thank you so much!


"Dollars for Dad"
--Help Spread His Inspiration Across the Nation

We are raising money together to honor our father who was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 39 in 2001 and has had a very progressive battle with it. We also do this to honor our mother who has been a supportive caregiver during this difficult time. We are from a small community in Ritchie County, WV where my dad has been a devoted dad, teacher, mentor, and coach to hundreds of students and athletes. We seek to share his story and give back to the Michael J Fox Foundation which is the Foundation for Parkinson’s Research by being a member of Team Fox where I will be running for them at the New York City marathon on November 4th, 2012 …you can accomplish more in life as a Team and we’ve all come together to be a member of my dad’s team...TEAM SPANGLER.

This campaign for "Dollars for Dad" is to show the power of just $1 and if we come together as a team the extraordinary difference it will make. Dad has inspired so many and we hope to show him just how far his inspiration has reached (We would REALLY love to get all 50 states and as many cities/towns as possible in between). I have a large map of the U.S. and I am going to keep track of where the dollars come from and mark them on the map, so help us spread his story and inspiration. When I visit dad I plan on taking the map and continuing to show him just where his story has reached and continues to reach until the race in November.

**We would truly appreciate your support and would love for you to pass this along and help us embellish the value of just a single $1.

Please Mail to:
Team Spangler
Attention: Missy Spangler
P.O. Box 403
Ripley, WV 25271

You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.- Winston Churchill




We sincerely Thank You!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Tee-Ball Lesson of Laughs..

Another little day of catching up! J 

For those of you keeping track of the running side of things I had 2 long days of running on Friday and Saturday (which were perfect!).

Friday I laced up the shoes and took to see where a little detour off the main road would lead me.  I was hoping to run a little over an hour and did just that.  I ran around an hour and 10 minutes and wished I could have just kept going.  I talked to mom a little bit and she kept laughing as we passed a duck as well as a horse on this run. I kept asking her if those obstacles would be around during the real marathon. 
Saturday I thought the run would have a slight chill in it but I was wrong, the long sleeve T-shirt ended up being tied around the waist and the temperature was pretty much perfect.  I took to a little further on the pavement road for this adventure winding through the countryside.  It doesn’t get much more peaceful then that (well that until you come upon a dog going crazy here and there).  Today I had a different “passerby” which was about 6 cyclists making their way through the country side too.  I couldn’t help but think today “I feel like a runner”…  I ran for about 1 hour and 20 minutes


            Sunday was spent visiting with Brock’s mom for a Easter lunch and then we headed out to Ritchie County to spend some more time eating Easter dinner J  Rough I suppose!  J  We fished with Carter and Sophie and enjoyed the day.  Carter will be the perfect fisherman...his 2 inch sunfish turned into a 4 foot fish when he told pappaw (dad) about the big catch.
With the start of the sports season’s changing (at least for me coaching) I think today I’ll focus on baseball.  Which if anyone knows dad, he was an amazing baseball player, actually, I think anything dad tried he did amazing at, but reminiscing today we’ll highlight a tee-ball story of my own.
            See…I was kinda dad’s boy he never had.  Tee-ball may have been more of a co-ed sport then when you got old enough to choose little league or softball.  I always told dad I was going to choose baseball just like him (Yes, I was #7 and all).  However starting out little…I believe I was the only girl this particular season (picture proof below).  Dad helped coach some too I believe…but we were at our little tee-ball team’s field (out on your way to Greenwood passing through town).  It was the start of season and our first game, and we were the Pennsboro Indians.  Everyone was getting settled to start in and one of the coaches yelled for everyone to get their bathroom break in….so everyone took off to go under the bridge (I suppose the go to designated spot).  Well…. I took off to go do what everyone else was doing…that is until I felt a tug at the backside of my shirt pulling me backwards from take off.  That’s when dad’s voice hit me saying “Ohhhhh no….you have to wait….it doesn’t work like that”.  I suppose that’s when I started to realize I was different when it came to sports…..  and from that point on up until my little league days ended, I suppose I used the “bathroom” alone in the sport of baseball J….  We all always laughed because Dad would say that was one of those “moments” he didn’t think of prior to it occurring to have to prepare an explanation for.
I'm the one on the far right with the ponytail :) 

Dad and his baseball/softball girls....  (Kelly followed in the Indian Tee-ball Footsteps)  And yes...I know my eyes are closed :)