Willpower

 When we were growing up my mom would spend time every summer giving tours of the Pioneer Museum in Ogden.  It had all the artifacts that you would expect those early settlers to have left behind.  There are hats and journals and even embroidery done with human hair.  I always thought it was interesting but the item that was my favorite was this biscuity type of cookie that had basically become a rock.
The story behind it was that the cookie was given as a gift to a little girl by her grandmother.  The grandma told her not to eat it until she was REALLY hungry.  The girl had carried it all the way across the plains and only took one little nibble that was visible.  I think the story was fascinating on a lot of levels.  I always stood in awe of this brave girl who, as we all know, walked and walked and walked and walked and still managed to hang on to that cookie.
It always resonated with me the tangible symbol of hope that the cookie provided.  No matter how bad things got she knew she still had the cookie to rely on.  Even as an adult I think that kid had guts.  If it had been me the cookie would have been gone before I was even out of the door.

Today when I was getting ready to head out for a little run I thought I would give Daisy a piece of pumpkin bread for a bribe an incentive.  Usually pumpkin bread wouldn't even be an option for a jogging stroller snack for the obvious reason that it can be eaten in five seconds flat.  Usually we go for something that takes a little more time to consume, like an apple or a bag of cereal, but I was rushing out and the pumpkin bread was the quickest thing I could grab.

Since it wasn't raining for once I added a little extra distance and was a worried that the girls would get grumpy but they seemed to be uncharacteristically cheerful.  And when I say "girls" what I really mean is Daisy because Rosy is always happy.  I was all ready for the meltdown to happen at any moment but then I looked and saw that Daisy was still holding the entire piece of bread.  Once we came within view of our apartments she started in on it but there was still enough left for a picture.  I'm not kidding about this.  She deliberately waited until she could actually see our home.
The thought of looking forward to eating the bread got her happily through the whole run.  Luckily for all of us we were just going a few miles instead of crossing the country or she might have ended up with a petrified piece of history instead of a snack.

What could be better after a run than a snack and some stretching?