My day began at 4.30am to go lead the training squad for the Pacific Mini Games in a time trial mini duathlon. Someone asked me today if I enjoy doing this work? DO YOU LIKE DOING ALL THIS?! My immediate answer YES surprised me 😆 I had to stop and think about it (wait up,… Continue reading Do you like doing all this?!
Tag: Lani Wendt Young
Light switch moments
From 7th August, 2022. Alzheimers /dementia is a lightswitch journey, where you're never sure when the switch goes on or for how long. But when it does, you savor every precious minute. Dad will have long stretches where he isnt quite present. He doesnt speak, he restless fidgets constantly, he can be lost in doing… Continue reading Light switch moments
Who’s the teacher?
Its been 22 years since I taught in any school anywhere. (I can reliably count from when daughter Zion was born because that's when I quit teaching so I could be a full-time parent to our second premature baby!) In those 22 years, I have taught children, teenagers and adults at church, I've done the… Continue reading Who’s the teacher?
An Open Letter to the Minister for Sport in Samoa, and to the Oceania National Olympic Committee, I write as a triathlete (the slowest one in the country), the wife of a triathlete (who's not the slowest one in the country), a volunteer triathlon organiser, and more recently, the Team Manager for the National Squad.… Continue reading
Changing the world for my Daughter
Bella's doing NCEA English, and she needs to read and then write essay responses to poems and short stories. I'm ridiculously proud-happy I could give her a copy of Va and say, HERE YA GO. CHOOSE SOMETHING FROM THIS ANTHOLOGY OF WRITING FROM 38 MOANA WOMEN. I didnt have those choices when I was in… Continue reading Changing the world for my Daughter
Random Kid on a Beach
Yesterday at triathlon training, we had an aquathon (swim and run). As the squad is doing warmup laps and we're organising the setup for transition, I notice a young boy come wandering over. Ragged shorts, no shoes. Avidly curious as he watches the squad swim. He goes up to Darren. Greets him with a confident,… Continue reading Random Kid on a Beach
Give me the Night.
Storytime. About Darren. About my Dad. About family. And the practicalities of death. When a burial must take place within 24 hours SOMEBODY has to make it happen. Somebody who knows what they're doing, has all the necessary equipment, somebody who can drop everything and come make the grave ready. For us, that somebody, was… Continue reading Give me the Night.
Gone.
Written on 20th February 2023. On Friday the 17th of February, at 10.40am, at home with my mother sitting beside him, and my brother Cam whispering in his ear "I love you Dad. It will be alright. Everything will be alright" - Dad quietly slipped away. We didnt have time to cry though because he… Continue reading Gone.
Dangerous Kisses
We avoided it for 3 yrs but its finally happened. The plague got us. That man who lives in the same house as me, came home 5 days ago from New Zealand. We did not yet know he had covid, so I confess that I kissed him heaps. Which was reckless I admit (In my… Continue reading Dangerous Kisses
The Journey begins – with Serena Williams. And chocolate eclairs.
I turn fifty next year (wow I know, I'm old!) So I made a list of things I want to do in my fiftieth year of awesomeness. Number one on the list, is I want to do a marathon. And not die. In preparation for that, I have to do a half- marathon THIS year.… Continue reading The Journey begins – with Serena Williams. And chocolate eclairs.
Lani Wendt Young 