HURRY UP AND DIE ALREADY!

“If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.”
― Mae West

Standing in the line up at the grocery store with my 15-year-old son, the cover of Maclean’s magazine caught my attention: “Hurry up and die already.”  The article is about parents living longer and screwing up their kids’ financial ambitions by not dying at a younger age and leaving an inheritance.   I looked at Brendan and said “don’t rely on me for your financial plans later on in life because if I still have money left after the money your dad and I have spent to give you a good start in life, I’m spending it and enjoying my life to the fullest.”

I hit 50 this past November and true to myself, I entered into the half a century club quietly.  There was no party no big celebration, just time with the boys and my husband enjoying being with one another.  I’ve been blessed with good health and every day I celebrate that good health by eating well and moving my body.  Exercise clears my mind and helps relieve stress, something I’ve been doing since my early 20’s.  My reasons for exercising back then had nothing to do with good health, it had to do with beating my nicotine addiction.

I picked up the nasty habit of smoking and decided I wanted to quit, figured I could drop the habit easily.  Did not go as planned, I quit and picked up the smokes over and over again.  I got the idea if I started running I would feel so bad during a run that it would give me the strength to stay away from cigarettes.  I remember the first time I went for a run, couldn’t even make it around the block and I felt pathetic.  I became determined to get myself into running shape and leave the smokes behind.  It worked, I gave up smoking and picked up running.  Once I was in shape I ventured into swimming, hiking, yoga, pilates, biking  – I tried everything.  I made a promise to my 20-year-old self that when I turned 50, I would still be exercising and I’m happy to say that exercise is still a big part of my life.   I move daily – running, weight lifting,yoga, swimming and three years ago I decided to try my hand at hockey.   I joined a womens’ league at the urging of a friend.   The hockey was challenging as I had not skated since I was a very young girl and I’ve never played  hockey or, for that matter, a team sport.  I’m still playing and I love it. It may sound peculiar to some people but when I’m on the ice chasing the puck, my focus is on the puck, passing and scoring and I don’t think of anything else, like work, kids, husband nor my age.  Playing hockey is a bigger stress reliever for me than running.

Now that I’m 50, I’ve made a promise to myself that I will still be moving every day when I’m 70.  Living in the present is something I’m also trying to do everyday, especially as you get older.  My mother use to say to me, “the older you get the faster your life goes.”  As I enter into this phase of my life, I plan to live it my way and my boys won’t see any of my money anytime soon!

 

 

AN ANGEL IN THE MIDST

I’ve been power walking with my neighbour for a while now.  We get up at 5:30 am and walk for an hour, sometimes I think our mouths get more exercise than our legs!  We both find 5:30 am the best time for us to get in an hour of exercise.  We work full time, the kids have homework or sports after school, dinner, laundry for the next day and getting the kids off to bed takes too much time in our evenings to get a walk in the schedule.  My oldest has been getting up and coming with us as he enjoys walking with my girlfriend’s dog Rex.  My youngest son gets up every now and then but he likes his sleep.  My walking buddy went to Mexico yesterday, so I asked my boys if they wanted to get up and take the dog for an early morning walk.  This is what we woke up to – snow.  Here my walking buddy goes to Mexico and it snows.  I got up a little late this morning and it was just me, my youngest son and Rex.   I grabbed my camera because  I knew the snow wouldn’t last and there’s nothing more breath-taking than a fresh layer of snow.

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It was pretty icy this morning and you had to watch your step.  Half way through the walk, I stepped off the curb onto the road and unknown to me there was black ice.  My feet went out from underneath me and it happened so fast I had no time to get my hands out to break my fall.  The strangest thing happened, my fall seem to go to slow motion and it was as if someone caught me from the fall and laid me gently on the ground.  I landed softly on my butt, then slowly the rest of my body laid back as if I was lying down on a bed and finally the back of my head hit the ground like I would lie down on a pillow, very gently.  I was lying there staring up at the sky a little stunned when Rex’s snout appeared and then my son’s face.  He said “mom are you ok?”  “Yes” I said, “just a little stunned.”   “Why are you stunned mom, are you hurt?”  “No I’m stunned, I’m not hurt, my head should of hit that ground really hard.”  I got up like nothing happened, no pain in my lower back or legs, no pain in my shoulders, no pain in my head, nothing.  Very strange, I’ve had similar experiences before where I’ve counted my lucky stars that someone or something was with me, but nothing quite so drastic as this morning.  I believe in angels and I’m not sure what form they take, but I know angels are amongst us.  Something was with me and my son this morning and I am very grateful.

          

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When I see a fresh layer of snow I always think that it’s God’s way of laying down a protective cover on the earth and the world seems to stand still.  Maybe he sent his angels out this morning as well….