Measure Me In Moments

Measure me in moments.  Not in pounds or ounces or how many plates I put on the bar.

Measure me in moments.

I do not remember how much I weighed on August 24, 2013. And I couldn't tell you my 1RM clean and jerk or back squat that day either.  But I will never forget the moment my husband and I discovered we were expecting our first child together and the way his smile and the sparkle in his eyes lit up the room that day.  Or the moment we heard that first heartbeat and he grabbed my hand.  The moment I had him take the first picture of my growing belly (I thought I was huge....). The moment we were told I was having complications and he held me and told me we would get through it together.  The moment I had to put the barbell down and baby my body for the next 20 weeks.  The moment I prayed and gave it all to God.
The moment I went into labor and told Dylan it was nothing and he could just go back to bed, refusing to go to the hospital.  The moment he told me to get my a** in the car.  The moment on April 29, 2014 we met our precious Evynn Louise. We both cried and laughed all at the same time.  The moment my sweet step daughter came to visit me at the hospital, handed me a letter telling me she loved me and her new sister, then politely said, "Ashley, your belly is still big."  The sleepless nights and Evynn's first smile. The moment she crawled and pulled herself up for the first time in front of a room full of our closest friends.  The moment she first said "DaDa" and waved to Dylan as he left for work.
These little every day moments remind me that that there is no number on a scale that can measure my worth or value as a mother, a wife, or a friend. There is no number on a whiteboard that can make me feel weak or inferior to the athlete I used to be.  I will continue to work hard to improve myself each and every day. To eat clean and train hard.  To be patient during homework and give out more hugs than reprimands.  It's not easy.
Life is hard, but you choose to give up or go hard.  I may never look exactly as I used to or lift what I used to either, but I refuse to be measured by a number on the scale or weight on a bar. Measure me in moments.