Amy Writes

Once upon a time, I was an athlete. This means that my body still thinks we are athletic. Hidden inside this sometimes-fluffy shell is the core of a hardened athlete. Really. I once was a 3-sport athlete, sweating through two-a-days and chasing fly balls and running endless suicides. And though those days are far behind me, my body remembers them well. So well that it laughs at the standard "30 minutes a day." Low- or Medium-impact workouts? Worthless. Nope. My body is a workout snob. My heart rate only elevates if I am running as if being chased or doing lunges while carrying a small person. As if protecting itself for what must be coming, my body keeps its cool. This brings us to excuse #5: No, really, for me, it's reaaaally hard. My body is not going to spring back into shape with a 30-minute walk a day (unless maybe I'm walking straight uphill at 4.5 miles an hour). It is going to take serious time, sweat and commitment. That's what it wants, so that's wh...

Before my oldest was born, I was a teacher's assistant in a preschool. Morning after morning, I would welcome an assortment of precious children out of the arms of tennis-skirt-clad moms. Or moms in yoga pants, back when you only wore yoga pants if you were going to yoga. And I would wonder - why are these mothers leaving their children in my care, every day, just so they can play tennis or go to the gym? Of course, that was before I had children and understood that sometimes, placing my children in the care of others is an emotional necessity. But, still. These women provided the evidence that I needed to formulate irrational Excuse #4: Really fit bodies are evidence of a misspent life . See, statistically, really fit people spend a lot of time exercising. (Imagine that!) A LOT. And when they're not exercising, they're talking about exercising. Or planning their next exercise. And if their entire thought life and all waking hours are spent exercising, well, then, think a...

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but two of my grandmothers and one grandfather are still with me. Very much with me, as in, I sometimes see my grandmothers multiple times per week. They are all in their late 80s (one turned 89 last weekend!) My other grandfather passed away about 11 years ago, but after losing both his legs in World War 2, suffering a couple of heart attacks and, I believe, 2 strokes. That is to say, I have a family of fighters. Healthy, hearty fighters. So, unlike some people who look back at their family history and see disease, heart problems and cancers, I see actual faces, smiling across the dinner table. Faces of people who are still living in good health, in spite of some very Southern diets. This has led me to say, at times, "look at my family history - I could eat nothing but butter for the rest of my days and still be alive when I'm 90." And there is Excuse #2: I have no family history that requires me to eat well. I didn't s...

I come from, on one side, a long line of hearty, Scottish stock. On the other side, it is a long line of hearty, Southern stock. We've got a whole lot of farming in our background. And I think I know why. We're built like farmers. Okay, I say that not having spent a lot of time around farmers, and I'm sure they don't all adhere to one specific body type. But I think that this body type, the one I inherited from my Scottish/Southern ancestry, would be good for farming. Maybe it's the broad shoulders that are good for carrying things to and from the fields, or the long torso that's good for bending over to plant or uproot. Then there's the short, stocky legs that are perfect for powering through soft, dusty fields. (Clearly, I'm picturing Little House on the Prairie farming, where Pa was always powering through soft, dusty fields.) Bottom line is: You want speed, you pick someone else for your team. If it's power you're looking for, then we're ...

This week, I was planning to write about the various excuses I have used to hold onto this extra weight. Ironically, I keep coming up with excuses that get me out of writing. For instance, I can't find the paper where I jotted them all down. It would be inefficient to start without finding that paper. Also, work has begun on the annual fundraising auction for one of the ministries we support. Since I'm leading the committee this year, computer time should be spent begging for stuff. Or organizing stuff. Or administrating stuff. And it's been really cold here, which means the heat has been on for what seems like weeks now, and my body is not made for these conditions, so I have been battling a headache and sinus pain for a few days. And, really, if I have time to sit and write, shouldn't I use it to exercise instead? While all of those are valid reasons for a slow down, they do not excuse me from what I need/want to do. So stay tuned for "Excuse Week."