While on the subject of feelings, my 10 year old client and I had discussed happy, sad, angry, and confused when we embarked on what it means to feel hurt. He identified times when he's felt hurt as "I fell off my bike and my knee was bleeding" and "I was playing basketball and somebody knocked me to the ground." It's curious that these and the other two examples he shared involved physical hurts as opposed to emotional ones.

"Has anyone ever hurt your feelings?"
"Sure, there were these kids that used to call me names", he volunteered.
"What kinds of names?"
"Oh, I forget now."
"You forgot?"
"I guess it probably had something to do with me being overweight, yeah, that was probably it."
"Do you think you're overweight?"
"Yes, I mean, what do you think, don't I look overweight?"
Before I could answer the question, he blurted out, "Hey, can you help me with something?"
"It depends on what it is, I could definitely try."
"Can you make me want to eat more vegetables? That would really help."

I guess I could have suggested he douse them with ranch dressing, but that seemed counterproductive to his goal. Is there any easy way to make kids like broccoli?

This morning I pounded the pavement in our neighborhood, maybe it was that free issue of Runner's World that inspired me. I mean, if Will Ferrell can run a marathon, surely I can. We'll see if that happens. A pleasant three mile run was enough for me today, just enough to generate that endorphin high. Running here often makes me miss San Diego. Even though it's spring and everything is brilliant green here in North Texas, there are days when I miss the sound of the waves and the vastness of the ocean.

The year before I moved out here I realized my time in San Diego was winding down, so I took every opportunity I could to be at the beach. I would wake up at 5am (this is unthinkable now), drive ten minutes down to La Jolla and park on Coast Blvd. My almost daily run would start in darkness by these quaint beachside condos. As daylight was breaking I would run past the cove full of seals, down to Wind and Sea beach and then double back. Evening runs were even better, with the added bonus of amazing sunsets. There was something about standing in front of that enormous amount of water as it reached beyond the horizon, it would cause me to think about the grandness of God and the smallness of me. Plus, those sunsets were a beautiful sight to behold.

"Do you have friends at school?"
The six year old nods her head vigorously up and down.
"Do you have a best friend?"
More vigorous nodding.
"What's her name?"
"Mayte." (pronounced my-tay)
"What makes her a good friend?"
"She has this tooth that fell out and now the new one looks funny. I like it."
"I see. What else makes her a good friend?"
"She's interesting to look at."