Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

Ultrarunning and Life’s Lessons

Daddy is teaching me how to run the marathon of life, instead of sprinting through it.

He says he learned these lessons when he was an ultrarunner.

I know I am too young to learn these lessons now. But I am betting daddy thinks that sometime I will be old enough to learn them.

And I can always come here to read his thoughts and remember his lessons if/when he is not around.

I don’t really want to think about daddy not being around. I do want to know what kinds of things he thought was important enough to want to tell me to learn early on so I wouldn’t have to relearn lessons he already had and so I could learn new things to add on to the many lessons he learned.

“Resolution is $20 word and may a $200 lesson,” says Daddy.

One of our presidents, Abe Lincoln, number 16 once said,

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”

Being resolved is making up your mind you are going to do something, finish something no matter what. There is no giving up. No stopping. Turning back is not an option.

Thinking about the whys of doing something or continuing on is done only AFTER the project is finished.

Daddy says, “There is never any reason to give up.” He says sometimes it doesn’t make sense to continue but he doesn’t know when that is.

No cutting loses. Just getting the job done. Then rethinking.

Wow! That is a $200 word and lesson.

And just to think, I was going to ask daddy if I could quit kindergarten.

I reckon I’d better not ask.

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.