Similar to the last time when I wrote a similarly-titled post, my story starts a day before.

On Thursday evening, Erica came up to me and asked, “Mummy, are you coming to school tomorrow for the IJ Olympics to support me?”, complete with her puss-in-boots (from Shrek) eyes that you can’t say no to (she’s got HUGE eyes). IJ Olympics was essentially her school’s sports day and I know she has been practicing very hard for it the past few weeks.

I quickly checked my phone – okay, it’s there in my schedule which means I have managed to keep my calendar free of work meetings this time (whew!). So I said yes, and after the kids have all gone to bed, did as much as possible to clear my inbox to ensure an e-mail free morning.

So on Friday morning I found myself in Emily’s and Erica’s school field, cheering them on and capturing their victorious moments. Emily came in second (inter-class frisbee) and Erica came in first (Electric Bus Pass). Erica was the last runner in her class group and was neck to neck with the girl running in the next lane (who was also the last runner of that class group) – it was a close finish and when she ran back to her group in first place, she jumped and fist pumped the air and did a victory dance – PRICELESS!

And I really liked how the school handled sports day – every child is a participant in the games, no one was a spectator. So for example, with inter-class Frisbee, over the various round-robin rounds, everyone in the class had to take at least one turn on the court. What a fantastic way to get everyone involved. And everyone cheered everyone on. Emily’s class had made pom-poms and shouts of “5 Peace” echoed continuously every time their class took to the court.

A friend once remarked about the many teleconferences I do in the nights when the kids have gone to bed. For now, I wouldn’t have it any other way. For it means I can take time off flexibly for moments like these. No apologies, no need to ask for permission, and no need to take leave to cover the 2-3 hours off work. The hours had already been banked in at another time. I am thankful for the trust and freedom to do my work when and where and how.

So once the games were over, it was back to work in the office for a review meeting, energized and pumped up by the adrenaline from watching my kids at their best!