On exercise

I don’t like working out. Over the years, I have tried and failed many times in creating and maintaining an exercise routine.

I've tried:

Yoga

Pilates

Recumbent bike

Jillian Michaels video (yikes)

Running

Currently, I am walking. I decided to walk in preparation for an upcoming vacation that will require lots of walking. Also known as Disney World…the not so magical part being the hours spent traversing big sidewalks and standing in long lines. Last time I was there, I was dead on my feet after lunch. I’m hoping to do better this time.

All of my work out attempts have taken place at home. Last year when I tried running, I had some success because it took place outside. Outside, the air is fresh, the scenery changes, and I see other people. The only problem is cold weather, but winter IS over for now...

Walking = same as running, just slower

I’m up to three miles, with a goal of five. Maybe (just maybe) I'll run again after that.

"Gone from my sight."

I spent the last couple of weeks in Florida, where my grandma was in hospice. There are few adequate words, so I'll borrow from something my brother found, by Henry Van Dyke:

"I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, 'There, she is gone!'
'Gone where?'

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: 'There, she is gone,' there are other eyes watching her coming, ready to take up the glad shout, 'Here she comes!'

And that is dying..."

In loving memory of my wonderful grandmother