Picking up the knees
Driving to the finish line
No runners are close behind
Couldn’t she take it easy?

No!

Even though the race has been run
these are the moments that must be savored.
Rewards are yet to come
for the first across the line.

Flash, past the line she goes
cheers of fans barely heard.
She turns to watch the other runners
filing in – none knowing her feeling

of being first across the line.

Cheering on each runner now.
Already recovered from the toil.
They will never know how much pain

it took to be the first across the line.

And does she know
how proud her father is.
He can’t believe
his little girl

is first across the finish line.

Dwight Estey

I had the pleasant opportunity to coach both my daughter Emily and my son Ethan. These reflections were written during Emily’s final season at North Attleboro in 1997.