Monthly Archives: April 2023
Birthdays and Other Things
April 11th always seems to be my birthday. Every year! It’s also my brother’s. We’re not twins.
This morning, my bathroom scale rudely reminded me that today was the day, with a cheerful “Happy Birthday!” My bathroom scale? WTF? Could there be a bit too much information floating in the air, available to even one’s digital scale?
That reality check reminded me that I’ve lived on borrowed, or bonus time, for about half of my life. The way I lived what now turns out to be the first half of it caused me to seriously believe that it would end way back then. Ask my first wife about that. It’s sheer luck that she didn’t do me in. Don’t get me wrong. She’s a gentle and peaceful lady, but I probably deserved being done in for a lot of my crap.
By now, half of my siblings have shuffled off to Buffalo, leaving this blue orb for what I’m sure they believed is a better place. I hope they found that to be true. What I hope for is not to have more birthdays or to be reunited with my departed family members on some mystical plane someday. It’s that as I keep stumbling along on this journey I can fill each day with the best experiences possible, and give back to this world in whatever way I’m able.
I’ve come to believe over time, that the only real purpose any of us have while we’re still on the green side, is to try to make life a little better for others. If we do that, in the end, our lives might have been worth something after all.
So, today I’ll celebrate the life I have. I’ll lift a glass to the prospect of another successful “trip around the Sun,” and keep an eye out for blue skies and smiling faces. Cheers!
Three Down. Nine To Go! (Getting Fit)
Three months of the gym, and still sucking in air. Nobody is more surprised than I am that my fitness quest hasn’t snuffed me yet. I prepaid for a year, and I hope to stick with it if I survive.
Going in twice a week is likely a minimal approach to finding a more healthy self, but laziness is my strong suit, and procrastination rules my existence. I’m damned proud that I’m hanging in there and still giving it a shot.
I’ve learned that “gym life” seems to mean vastly different things to each member. There are the young men and women who seem to be there to socialize, and by their own admission look better for their current and potential partners. Then, there are many other people ranging from middle-aged housewives and possible shift workers, to geezers who strike me as maybe having nowhere else to go. Possibly they paid their money and are taking their ride. I noticed that the coldest days of winter brought in the most apparently retired folks. The heat is always on, and there are plenty of people to hang with, so I get it. Turn the heat down, lock the house, and go to the gym. I bet the hot summer months will be similar. Air-conditioned comfort and cronies to socialize with while saving a ton of money at home.
Actually, it seems like most of the members are there for the same reasons I am. Those reasons are better cardiovascular health, weight loss, and a more enhanced sense of well-being. They seem to be folks like Meg and me, who come and go on a purposeful mission to work out and get on with their day. That said, whatever reasons people have for going to the gym it feels like they’re on the right track. It can’t hurt to try to improve your health, strength, aerobic fitness, agility, and endurance, can it?
Those observations aside, I see small improvements in my own physical abilities. At first, I was easily winded, my muscles were weary by the end of each session, and in a half-hour I was ready to leave. As my third month in the gym concluded, I realized that I was working out longer, more vigorously, and with much less fatigue after the sessions. That’s improvement that I need and welcome. Who knows if it’s extending my lifespan, but it’s making doing yard work a lot easier this season. I’m going to hang in there to see what happens.
I’ll keep you posted.
D'Pyrate's Plank 