Walkin'

Booyaw, take THAT!

Not only did I walk the kids to school way early, but I got home before school started! YES!

I've had 'cankles' all weekend so I was already concerned. There are always a myriad of excuses keeping me from exercising, writing being the biggest. I get things I have to write gnawing at me like a pack of ravening hamsters. One of my other stand-by excuses like having to take my middle daughter to University High, or got to some other meeting works just as well.

There's always that little voice in my head like a Greek chorus commenting in the background, which says, "Heidi, you really should drop and do sit-ups. Heidi, you should go walking. Heidi, don't stand there with the fridge open. Heidi, the scales are groaning. Hey, Chubbybutt, you gasp for air when you bend over to tie your shoes!" I usually bludgeon that voice insensate.

A dream actually vaulted me into action this morning. The specter of dying of a heart attack truly galvanizes a body to haul her carcass out of bed and tie on the old sneakers, I tell you! I was off like a shot, dragging my youngest son in my wake. My youngest daughter was so enraged about the necessity of actually getting sweaty before school, that she stomped there, mostly ahead of us. The youngest and I found a great shortcut, though, so we jumped half a block ahead of her.

It was nice, though. The son and I had a lovely chat about dumb birds who try to build their nests in palm trees. (We concluded that it could be done if the bird never got fat and was very careful. Often we find dove babies on the ground beneath palm trees, because doves are stupid. They'll build anywhere.) It was a wonderful bonding moment. I'm looking forward to tomorrows chat already.

At the end of our gallop, we waited for her and had a group hug, hoping for some damage control there. "Sometimes a person has to bend a little," I told her. "The world is full of change. It's how God meant it to be. If we aren't changing, we're stagnating." I don't know how much got through her haze of rage, but she gave me a hug. Hopefully she'll choose to be a person and not a bog...;o)

And I...

I need to embrace change as well. If I don't jam my excuses down the same dark hole with my bad eating habits, I'm going into that hole. Sigh...good-bye cheese sticks, hello exercise.