{"id":8662,"date":"2026-04-26T02:37:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/?p=8662"},"modified":"2026-04-26T02:37:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:37:54","slug":"superman-the-wod-workout-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/?p=8662","title":{"rendered":"Superman the WOD (workout of the day)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cWhy do we do this?\u201d That was my daughters\u2019 text after completing the workout that we\u2019ve done each year on the anniversary of Steve\u2019s death. (I never know whether to say that or to say Steve\u2019s homecoming. I feel like they\u2019re both true but people who are more spiritually mature than me say the latter. Maybe “his death” seems to be the more \u201ctruthful truth\u201d for me as his homecoming would be the more \u201ctruthful truth\u201d for him. I guess that\u2019s another thought for another day. Either way…) Two of my daughters, and their husbands, have been doing our \u201cSuperman\u201d workout for years.\u00a0 The 3rd<\/sup> daughter is smarter than us and she sits inside seeing how many pages of her book she can read or write in 18 minutes, hence, the question\u2026WHY?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s the obvious reasons of honoring Steve\u2019s love of coaching, gymnastics, heavy lifting, listening to classic rock, and just watching people struggle through a difficult workout (if they threw up that was a bonus :)) but there\u2019s also the deeper reasons.\u00a0 Feeling close to him as we do something that we once did together.\u00a0 Refusing to give up, sit down or quit on a day that feels awful. And having an excuse to cry and yell on a day when all we want to do is cry and yell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then we finish the 18 minutes\u2026we feel relief\u2026we post a picture in honor of the man we love\u2026and some of the grief and pain has been released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we weren\u2019t able to be together.\u00a0 For the first time in 5 years, I didn\u2019t see my girls on the anniversary of Steve\u2019s death.\u00a0 I hated it. But you know what? I was also incredibly proud.\u00a0 They have lives that he would want them to live and enjoy.\u00a0 I honestly believe God gives him moments in which he can peek out of eternity and see us and, if that’s the case, I want him to see us living and loving well. CJ was camping with my beautiful granddaughters, Della and Anya.\u00a0 Haley was coaching soccer. Meg and Aaron were recovering from a difficult week and taking care of their sweet baby, Reece. Madison was selling books at a book signing.\u00a0 And I missed them all. I’m so proud that they all faced a day that none of us wish we were facing with grace and courage.\u00a0 I hope I did the same.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But – I am tired. It was more emotional than most years. I don’t know why. Maybe the first few years I was in shock and then the next few I just stayed busy. Or maybe it’s because I had more space and time for my emotions.\u00a0 I think that might have been a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running away from pain is never a good idea no matter how difficult it is to face.\u00a0 But, God usually shows up with some sort of balm for our wounds when we have the courage to hold our pain with all its’ heaviness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I drove home from finishing the workout, alone, and grabbing dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, I saw the man who introduced Steve and I back in the 80s mowing my 5 acres.\u00a0 My mower has been broken and I haven\u2019t been able to get it fixed yet, but there he was\u2026right before the rain\u2026just mowing away like Steve use to do. I walked inside and reread the many messages I\u2019d received from women that have carried me over the last 5-10 years – because let\u2019s be honest\u2026 there were some hard years even before we lost Steve – and my heart was overflowing. Then I started working on some homework for a certification I\u2019m getting and I was just blown away by the gracious, wise and loving women that I\u2019ve come to know over the last four months and for the life-changing things I\u2019ve been learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

YES\u2026.I miss Steve every day.\u00a0 I miss being loved like only he could love me. I miss laughing. I miss just hanging out. I miss dancing with him in Mexico. I miss kissing him. I miss all of it.\u00a0 But I\u2019m also deeply grateful for the years we had. For the kids we have. For the faith I have. For the friends I have. For the hope I have of seeing him again and the home God has for me in eternity.\u00a0 This world, and the mess that it is, well…it is NOT MY HOME. Jesus is my portion. He is my hope, my healing and my provision.\u00a0 Life is good.\u00a0 Even in the grief and pain.\u00a0 Life, my friend, can be so very good. \u00a0But Jesus is the one who makes it gold. HE is the real Superman that even our superman bows to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhy do we do this?\u201d That was my daughters\u2019 text after completing the workout that we\u2019ve done each year on the anniversary of Steve\u2019s death. (I never know whether to say that or to say Steve\u2019s homecoming. I feel like they\u2019re both true but people who are more spiritually mature than me say the latter. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,646],"tags":[110,175,182,189,220,246,272,780,274,305,317,407,429,547],"class_list":["post-8662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-family","category-grief","tag-courage","tag-eternity","tag-faith","tag-family","tag-friends","tag-grief","tag-home","tag-honor","tag-hope","tag-jesus","tag-kids","tag-pain","tag-power","tag-strength"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}