Good Life - What Larks! May 21, 2017
The Day that Jan Talked about GoodLife for 30 minutes and Someone Had to Listen!
I start each day, lately, by reading a page of “Wrinkles Don’t Hurt” by Ruth Fishel. She emphasizes the positive aspects of getting older. To be honest, the only reflection that really connected with me was the one that includes the quote, “Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.”
Until a few days ago…
I got an email from GoodLife Head Office asking if Laurence and I would like to be interviewed about being seniors who go to GoodLife. Our interviewer, James, added, “With Seniors Fitness Day coming up on May 31, GoodLife would love to be able to tell your story to inspire others.”
Wow! Would I!? OK, Laurence took some cajoling.
Now just so you know, hubs and I were not selected because of our amazing abilities in the gym. Not at all. I had written GoodLife head office to thank them for their programs because this gave us the strength we needed to cycle 67 km around Hamilton for our 40th Anniversary. Also, we are not the only ones being interviewed.
Still, someone WANTED to listen to me go on and on and on about GoodLife – or until our cell phone battery died. That would give James an easy out after 30 minutes. The interview was set for Tuesday, May 17, at 3:30 pm. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, I started my day by doing my morning run (jog-walk) with my pants on inside out. And my mp3 player started turning off half-way through a song. It does that when the batteries are running low. (When will I learn!?)
Laur took our car to the mechanic to get the snow tires taken off. (Yes, I know it’s May, but in Sudbury snow is normal for Mother’s Day.) He also packed his bike and gym bag so that he could head to GoodLife after. Sadly, he forgot his gym bag in the van and arrived at GoodLife in his street clothes without even a water container. The folks at the front desk gave him a free bottle - but couldn’t do much about the gym clothes.
Laur did a spin class in his street clothes, but thought it might be just a tad beyond the pale if he went swimming in his underwear. Completely discombobulated, he rode his bike back to our apartment instead of the mechanic, completely forgetting he didn’t have his keys and that his wife was volunteering at a reading program at our local school.
He has never been so glad to see me in his entire life. Just after I unlocked the door, the mechanic phoned to tell Laur the van was ready, so off Laur goes on his bike to get the van (and his gym bag.) Probably the forgetting of the gym bag was not such a bad thing, since I had forgotten to do the laundry the night before. Normally, our gym doesn’t smell. There is a first time for everything!
While waiting for Laurence to return so we could have lunch, I decided – given the way the day was going - I should possibly write up a “cheat sheet” for our interview. Which I did. Nothing fancy. Just the year we started going to GL and what classes we do. If you know us, you know that Laur and I are inclined to argue about things because we have a hard time remembering the “who, what, when, where, and why” of events.
I shared the cheat sheet with Laur as he wolfed down his vegan cheese sandwiches. He was too tired to complain.
My turn to hit the gym for some “virtual” classes (on screen) before going to my chiropractor to reassemble a body that is constantly being damaged because its uncoordinated owner walks into and falls over things. And then get back to our apartment by 3:30 pm. St. Catharine’s rush hour peaks between 3 and 3:30 pm because that’s when the kids get out of school, and the seniors are getting up from their naps and need to go the mall to buy what they forgot to get in the morning. Add to that, there are few advanced greens on the main arteries, and you’ve got yourself very slow moving traffic.
I got home just in time. We set our cell phone on the table in front of us, so we’d be able to find it when it rang. We had remembered to charge it. The next feat would be remembering to swipe right to answer the call (vs. swiping left to ignore it. We get very few calls so this is not in our muscle memory yet.)
James called at 3:30 pm and the interview actually went really well. It helped that James has a great sense of humour. Laurence and I only sparred once. I wanted to try to turn the volume up and Laurence yelled “Noooo!” – knowing that I would accidentally hang up. I’ve just learned how to put it on speaker phone. One thing at a time. We did keep our cheat sheet handy but didn’t have to refer to it … much …
The story will come out May 31st. Will we be in it? Maybe. But certainly not as stars of the show. I like Caroll Bryant’s approach to things like this: “Everyone in life has a purpose, even if it's to serve as a bad example.”
I start each day, lately, by reading a page of “Wrinkles Don’t Hurt” by Ruth Fishel. She emphasizes the positive aspects of getting older. To be honest, the only reflection that really connected with me was the one that includes the quote, “Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.”
Until a few days ago…
I got an email from GoodLife Head Office asking if Laurence and I would like to be interviewed about being seniors who go to GoodLife. Our interviewer, James, added, “With Seniors Fitness Day coming up on May 31, GoodLife would love to be able to tell your story to inspire others.”
Wow! Would I!? OK, Laurence took some cajoling.
Now just so you know, hubs and I were not selected because of our amazing abilities in the gym. Not at all. I had written GoodLife head office to thank them for their programs because this gave us the strength we needed to cycle 67 km around Hamilton for our 40th Anniversary. Also, we are not the only ones being interviewed.
Still, someone WANTED to listen to me go on and on and on about GoodLife – or until our cell phone battery died. That would give James an easy out after 30 minutes. The interview was set for Tuesday, May 17, at 3:30 pm. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, I started my day by doing my morning run (jog-walk) with my pants on inside out. And my mp3 player started turning off half-way through a song. It does that when the batteries are running low. (When will I learn!?)
Laur took our car to the mechanic to get the snow tires taken off. (Yes, I know it’s May, but in Sudbury snow is normal for Mother’s Day.) He also packed his bike and gym bag so that he could head to GoodLife after. Sadly, he forgot his gym bag in the van and arrived at GoodLife in his street clothes without even a water container. The folks at the front desk gave him a free bottle - but couldn’t do much about the gym clothes.
Laur did a spin class in his street clothes, but thought it might be just a tad beyond the pale if he went swimming in his underwear. Completely discombobulated, he rode his bike back to our apartment instead of the mechanic, completely forgetting he didn’t have his keys and that his wife was volunteering at a reading program at our local school.
He has never been so glad to see me in his entire life. Just after I unlocked the door, the mechanic phoned to tell Laur the van was ready, so off Laur goes on his bike to get the van (and his gym bag.) Probably the forgetting of the gym bag was not such a bad thing, since I had forgotten to do the laundry the night before. Normally, our gym doesn’t smell. There is a first time for everything!
While waiting for Laurence to return so we could have lunch, I decided – given the way the day was going - I should possibly write up a “cheat sheet” for our interview. Which I did. Nothing fancy. Just the year we started going to GL and what classes we do. If you know us, you know that Laur and I are inclined to argue about things because we have a hard time remembering the “who, what, when, where, and why” of events.
I shared the cheat sheet with Laur as he wolfed down his vegan cheese sandwiches. He was too tired to complain.
My turn to hit the gym for some “virtual” classes (on screen) before going to my chiropractor to reassemble a body that is constantly being damaged because its uncoordinated owner walks into and falls over things. And then get back to our apartment by 3:30 pm. St. Catharine’s rush hour peaks between 3 and 3:30 pm because that’s when the kids get out of school, and the seniors are getting up from their naps and need to go the mall to buy what they forgot to get in the morning. Add to that, there are few advanced greens on the main arteries, and you’ve got yourself very slow moving traffic.
I got home just in time. We set our cell phone on the table in front of us, so we’d be able to find it when it rang. We had remembered to charge it. The next feat would be remembering to swipe right to answer the call (vs. swiping left to ignore it. We get very few calls so this is not in our muscle memory yet.)
James called at 3:30 pm and the interview actually went really well. It helped that James has a great sense of humour. Laurence and I only sparred once. I wanted to try to turn the volume up and Laurence yelled “Noooo!” – knowing that I would accidentally hang up. I’ve just learned how to put it on speaker phone. One thing at a time. We did keep our cheat sheet handy but didn’t have to refer to it … much …
The story will come out May 31st. Will we be in it? Maybe. But certainly not as stars of the show. I like Caroll Bryant’s approach to things like this: “Everyone in life has a purpose, even if it's to serve as a bad example.”