A tale to tell

My apologies to the heroes of the story if I get the details wrong, this story was told to me and I want to keep it and remember it and I want my children to go back and read and remember.

So hence the blog post.

Friday night and into Saturday morning, the young men in the stake where a lot of my family live did a 50/20.  They walked fifty miles in twenty hours.

Yes, you read that right.

They left at 2:00 in the afternoon and walked through the night.  At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning they were going to be done, whether or not the fifty miles were accomplished.

You can imagine the motherly trepidation as Marianne and Jennifer sent their 12 and 13 year old boys.

Marianne went to bed on Friday night and at 1:00 a.m., Deseret called her.  She had been at a leadership camp and it was time to go meet the bus because they were home.

After picking Desi up, they talked about the boys (and Robert) out doing their walk.  Desi, who was somehow wired and energetic at 1:00 a.m., said, "We should go see them!"

Marianne declined, but Desi talked her into it.  Desi can pretty much talk her mother into anything but Marianne sort of deserves that because she was a very similar kind of teenager.

They stopped off at home to change shoes and drove out into the night, to find the walkers.

They met them at mile 36.  At mile 35, Morgan had called it quits.  And that is amazing.  He pushed himself to the end of his limit and Marianne was exceedingly proud of him.  (So am I.)

Robert and Hyrum and Isaiah and some others were sojourning along.  Desi aimed all of her considerable enthusiasm at them and it was perfect timing.  They needed the boost.  She encouraged them and lifted their spirits and walked happily alongside them.  Marianne was getting ready to head back home (after walking with them for 4 miles!) and Robert said, "You can't take Desi.  We need her.  She has to stay."

Desi, of course agreed.  She was just coming off a leadership camp (in the history of teenagers I  think kids always come home from something like that exhausted), but they needed her and Desi is as tough as nails.

Probably tougher.

Marianne left them in Desi's capable hands.  Early in the morning, she heard from Robert.  He and Hyrum had made it; Isaiah and Desi were still on their way.

Marianne later heard more about their adventure.  As they walked together, Desi told Isaiah about every date she'd ever been on.  She told him about other adventures she'd had including when she'd been at Philmont scout camp earlier in the summer and a chicken had relieved itself on her head.  Isaiah told her a detailed description of the plot of Jurassic World.

And they walked.

The going was slow and Desi was worried they wouldn't reach the end before the 10:00 a.m. cutoff.  At that point it was mental strength and mental strength alone that was keeping them going.  Desi knew that, so she reminded Isaiah what a waste it would be if they didn't finish after all the huge effort he had already put it.

She convinced him to run.

How on earth Desi even considered running when she'd been at a camp, been up all night, and just walked nearly fourteen miles is beyond me.

How on earth Desi could convince a twelve year old boy to run after he had walked nearly 50 miles is beyond me.

How on earth Isaiah mustered the strength to run after walking nearly 50 miles is beyond me.

How on earth I could be related to such kids is beyond me.

They made it!

I am incredibly proud of them:  Robert, Hyrum, Morgan, Isaiah and Desi.  They are heroes.  For the rest of their lives, those boys will know they can do hard things.

For the rest of his life Isaiah will know something else too.  He will know he has a cousin who has. His. Back.

We were sitting around the kitchen table when I told this story to my family.  I started crying when I described the hand held radio report that Robert overheard, "Some boy and his sister are running!" and so did Braeden and Emma because that's the kind of sops we are.

Adam looked up at the clock.  "What time is it?" he asked.  "I want to drive there right now and see them."

We didn't drive there. We were halfway done painting our basement and we had responsibilities around here on Sunday.

We all felt it though.

These people are amazing and we want to see them and hug them and tell them they're amazing.

We would like some of that amazing dust to rub off on us.