The pandemic has been tough on all of us. The drastic health and safety measures that have been imposed by governments to try and combat the spread of the virus have been even tougher. As adults, most of us have learned to cope with the changes by now and have probably adopted some form of the "new normal" whether we like it or not. In my opinion, however, it's the kids and the young people who have had to pay the highest price for all this "safety". 
 

Can you imagine not being able to celebrate your high school graduation? Or spending your first year in college or university at home behind a computer screen in virtual classrooms? I have three young kids at home who've shown incredible resilience throughout all of this, but who each have their own struggles with different challenges brought on by the pandemic. 

My middle son Remy has been especially affected by the complete shut-down of organized sports. Unlike my other 2 kids, who seem to be perfectly capable of staying active on their own with little-to-no supervision, Remy is the type who requires more structure and guidance when it comes to exercise. If he's not enrolled in a soccer league or attending regular Taekwondo practices, he's far less likely to get off his butt and move each day. So the onus has fallen on me and my wife to make sure that he stays active, and that he doesn't turn into a 9-year-old video-game-playing couch potato.  

I often do little 12 minute workouts with him when I get home from work, but yesterday I knew I had to complete a 5K run as part of my own exercise regimen. I looked outside and saw it was still pouring rain. So I turned to Remy and asked him...“Hey Remy! Wanna come out on your bike with me in the rain and keep up with your old man on his 5K run? It’s totally gonna suck!!! There was a long pause followed by silence. “Okay Dad, let’s go!” he said. Wow!!! I couldn’t believe it. He actually said yes! Volunteering to go out in cold, windy, rainy conditions with his nut-job Dad could only mean one thing... my mental conditioning from all my own fitness was rubbing off on him. He was ready to embrace the suck. He was ready to do hard things. He was ready to join me in some good old-fashioned suffering and not leave me to suffer alone. Those who suffer together, bond together. And we had one of the best father-son bonding sessions ever. 

As we headed out, the wind was howling in our faces and the cold rain felt like icy daggers stabbing us in the eyeballs. We had to yell at each other because the wind was so loud in our ears. We kept screaming back and forth... “this totally sucks!!! Yeah, but it’s totally awesome!!!” Thankfully when we reached the halfway point and turned around to come home, we had the wind at our backs and could finally talk in our normal voices without yelling. I stopped for a minute to tell Remy how proud I was of him, and that he showed real grit by joining me out there. I could see his face light up. He was grinning from ear to ear. 

We suffered for each other. And it was the best feeling ever.  

Signing off.... 

Capt’n Mark