Yesterday, my sister and her running buddy, Mary-Kate Behnke, crossed the finish line of the Jingle Jog 5K in uptown Charlotte connected by a bungee cord. You can read about Taylor's participation in the race in today's edition of the Charlotte Observer - it's the front page story in the Local section - or online by clicking here.

While we're all lamenting our country's economic woes, feeling sorry for ourselves for the various struggles we face in our own lives or simply trying to keep up with the frenetic pace of the holiday season, I encourage you to take an example from Taylor. Taylor begged my parents to let her participate in Girls on the Run at Fletcher this fall. Only thanks to an amazingly compassionate offer from Mary-Kate Behnke, an upper school student at Fletcher, was she able to join the team. Only thanks to Mary-Kate's assistance and her own dogged determination was she able to run in yesterday's race, the culmination of a semester of hard work by all of the girls on the team.

Mary-Kate told us that T fell a couple of times on the course, but that after each fall, she pulled herself up and started again. The pair crossed the finish line in just under an hour...not a good enough performance to win any of the awards that were distributed yesterday, but amazing enough that it deserved the biggest applause of all. T never gave up on that course yesterday. And neither will I.