Hurry!

I have been able to walk my two grandson's to school a few times in the past few weeks. I walk them to school and then go on a long walk through the beautiful fields.  The older one goes out the door and is on his way. He has plans to get there and get a kick ball to play with before school. He wants to be sure they are not all gone. Sometimes they like to ride their scooters but today I said no. There were to many very tempting puddles to splash through.  They both reassured me they would miss all of them but they didn't know that I have experience in the little boy and wheels department and NO little boy can resist a great big puddle. So off we went. The younger one and I usually walk together. I will walk a little and stop and wait for him to catch up. He loves school and has no reason to drag behind so I constantly tell him to hurry. He would come running and off we would go again, and again, and again. I decided that today I would walk with him and see what was slowing him down so much. We headed out and the first thing that happened is we got about 2 drops of light rain on us. He had a big concern until I told him that if it really started to rain we could put his backpack on top of his head like an umbrella.  Off we go and I turn to look for him because he is already behind and he has already adjusted his backpack/umbrella on his head.  He had kept the arms in the straps and pulled the backpack up on his head. "Look it works great Granny." We made it past about 3 houses and he had to walk on the low retaining wall running along the sidewalk. Then a little more and we hear a big "thwack" as we startle a few bird and one flys into a window. We have to look for it to see if it is okay. Moving forward again.  Then I hear, "look at those cool snails." I have to admit they were pretty cool. They were tiny and had a long tapered shell. I had never seen that kind before. Next the question was, "can I smash them." No I told him other people might want to see how cool they are. Then a climb on a big rock and jumping down. Moving again. Next he stops and gazes into an open garage. He keeps saying something about a shiny Mongoose.  He really wants one of those. I realized that he was talking about a BMX bicycle that he has admired many times as we have walked by.  Slowly moving as he continues to try to spot the bike in the garage.  Then we hear honk, honk, honk. A flock of Canadian geese fly right over us in perfect formation.  They were low and slow. We had to stand and watch them until they were out of sight. As we continue walking we have to stop and look at all the different dogs that are looking out of their side gates at us. I counted about  7. He is very good to always stay on the sidewalk and not go into yards so just stands in the middle of the sidewalk and looks. Then we came to a house that must have a bunch of boys that like to do tricks on their bikes. There was an assortment of boards, bricks, and other boy type building materials in the yard and on the sidewalk. There was a piece of board propped  against the curb to make a small ramp. Of course he had to go up and down that several times. Then he found a piece of pipe that was flat on one side that  he could make a ramp to walk  down and now a ramp to walk up. Cool...  We are almost there. Off he runs because by now big brother has got a kick ball and would be out playing with their friends on the field. He didn't want to miss that. I continue walking  and thought of all the "cool" things we got to see. I don't know if he would have made it to school on time without a little prodding along but he sure had an adventure on the way.  Maybe we all need to quit saying "hurry" and slow down just a little and look for an injured bird, cool snails, Canadian geese, Mongoose BMX bikes, neighbors dogs, walls to climb, rocks to jump off, and ramps to build. And of course we need to all be sure to wear our backpack/umbrella!!!!!

Wrong blog post...

Apparently I posted MY update on my mom's blog. For those of you getting emails from her blog...sorry about that! Disregard the last post!

Emily

You can look like that!

I never know what I am going to hear on any given day that motivates me to keep going. I try to find ways to lift others up too. I know that many times just a small comment can make a huge difference in a person's day. I think it often lifts me up more that the person I am talking to.  Today as I was talking to my H20 aerobic instructor she mentioned the changes she had seen in me over the past three years.  She commented that she thought I was now smaller than her.......and I was immediately reminded of something that happened three years ago. When I first started in H20 aerobics I was so impressed with this instructor. She really worked us, had a lot of energy, and was very enthusiastic. She did not seem to mind that the pool was full of "Oldies." She just got going and kept going.  I was going every day and would often mention to my family that they should give it a try, that it was a great total body work out. Now my one son is very into the weight lifting and training at the gym. He would kinda smirk at me and say okay. I finally convinced him to try the class. So here he was this young, handsome, bearded, buff dude in the pool with all of us "oldies." He told me after that the workout was great. (what else could he say to his mother?) There was something that he said to me that has impacted me and given me so much drive. I commented to him about how strong and muscular the instructor was. I would love to look like her. He looked at me and said, "you CAN look like that." I just scoffed at him and said, "right!" He said. "No you really can. You have the potential to do that. You have a similar body type to hers.(under this layer of fat I thought) You will  not get as muscular as her but you can change your body if you want."  I have thought about that comment often, it has motivated me many times to keep going. I can look like that!!!!! I have to do the work but I can.  Now- I am not muscular but I have muscles.  I can not lift weights as heavy or as long as her but I can lift weights. I can not walk the many miles she walks as she does her dog walking job but I can walk.  Just that one little comment has motivated me into trying many different types of exercise and to work harder. Thank you son for teaching me. Yes, I can look like that.  One comment that gave me hope. I want you to have that hope and know you too can, "look like that."