The Focus... My Family

Rising before the sun, I stumble my way through the dark trying to get myself up and ready for work at our local school. A dim light shines from my husband’s office, as he works away on his computer and business. It’s great having him work from home! My kids are dragging themselves around the house this morning tired from the previous day’s activities. What would that be?

Well, let’s start with a full-day of school, along with after-school band practice for our, fourteen-year-old son, nicknamed Tre.  Jalen, our 11-year-old daughter, has a meeting after-school for choir, now, we’re headed home just after two hours of school basketball or track practice to try and grab a snack from our refrigerator. In about one hour or so, we have to take the kids to club  or local youth sports practice. (What sports depend on the time of the year.)

When I get home, I have to quickly get the meat prepared for dinner, play with our 2-year-old, Samiah, who has missed Mommy all day, and get the kids settled into their homework with some help from me the teacher. I then rush back out for my 6 o’clock workout at a local cardio club. Once back home, I have to finish up with dinner, while playing Frozen with Samiah, and later this evening, Jalen has to be picked up from soccer practice. Not to mention the additional mini-workouts that I try to remind my kids of doing at home, like, 50 squats or 50 push-ups, just before bed.

The weekend is club track meet and basketball tournament days. Preparing for track meets in Texas weather is a work day in itself. The life of a Track & Field Mom is a pretty crazy one. I’ll have to explain that one to you in a later blog.

This is our lives. Our very tiring, very busy life, and I love it! It’s so rewarding as a parent to see your little ones, whom you only first wished to see go potty, or read their first sentence. Grow up quickly into high-energy, successful student-athletes.

Jalen has become a multi-award winning and national record holder in USATF youth track & field. Being a school-labeled gifted and talented student, her God-given focus allows her to be a very successful athlete and meticulous student. Sitting on the window-side of her bed is a used diaper box filled with over 160 medals that she has won over the last four years. (I know, I know we’re working on a trophy and medal display case, which takes a lot of engineering to figure out.) She has done a small marketing gig with Little Tykes, and appeared on local internet radio and newspapers.

Tre has slowly and timely becoming one of the recognized rising future star basketball players his age locally. He has had some difficult times not seeing the same success as his sister, but we kept on telling him to keep working and his time would come. He’s starting to see the fruits of his labor. I know, as time goes on, we will all see just how far it will take him. Academically, he has been the star, winning multiple awards and scoring perfect scores on his state-standardized tests.

Some may wonder why we have put ourselves through this for over four years. You might be thinking: Oh, boy, another set of stardom-hungry parents trying to push their kids to become some probably-won’t-happen-famous people. Nah, not even the case. There are many valid reasons, but one main reason is so that our children will have opportunities and experiences in life that we may have missed or our parents never thought to allow us. Our focus is on exalting God’s Love that has allowed us the opportunities that we and our family have been given.  

Look, we don’t have fun in this family, everything is business………..Just kidding! I’m sure you began to feel a bit upset at that statement. On the contrary, we enjoy many things with the kids, and I try to be mindful of ensuring that they experience the wonderful things that are available to them, similar to what I experienced growing up: pumpkin farms, Halloween trick or treating, Christmas villages to visit that Ol’ Saint Nick, church or family prayer to discuss issues that we can relate to God’s word, family game night, a competitive game of Wii, professional sporting games, circus, ice-capades, trips to Disney World, and movie nights with a big tub of popcorn.

My many, many hats, or in this case, many capes of being a Mom, teacher, coach, mentor, cook, wife, lover, and friend keep me on my toes. They keep me focused on my own future goals and dreams, and they keep me focused on what is important: my Family.

Regina Respert-Elrod was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, where she attended private schools. She participated in high school basketball, winning two state championships, track & field, winning the City of Detroit 300M hurdles event and state champion member of the 4x200M relay, and a softball team member, winning MVP for her team. After attending Oberlin College, receiving multiple honors as a member of the women's basketball team, she married fellow Oberlin men's basketball member, Maurice Elrod, also a winner of multiple honors and former HS track athlete, and they have three children, Tre (14), Jalen (11), and Samiah (2). They currently reside in a suburb of Houston, where Regina works as a Campus Athletic Director and Physical Education teacher.  Follow her on Twitter: @ReginaElrod