Can wishes really come true??

So my little girl comes into my room tonight just after I tucked her in.  She says mom… Yah sweetie… Well, you know how you make a wish on the star at night?  Yah…..Well,…. what happens if you make that wish night after night and it never comes true?

Pause….At this point I am thinking ..okay, this is one of those times I need to think of the perfect something to say, make it quick and make it good.  Its needs to be memorable and exactly what she wanted to hear.  The first thought that came to my mind was reciting something I heard from a Disney movie. 

Well, you know Molly, a wish will only get you half way. You have to work hard to make your best wishes come true…

What do you mean?

Well, I mean a wish is your desire, your dream, in order to make it come true you have to work for it.  Try hard to make it happen.

Well, I don’t know how I could do that…

Another pause, at this moment, I realize I know what her dream is.  Her dream is to fly. She wants to soar through the air like the birds, sit on clouds and dance among the tree tops. I know this is her dream because I’ve heard her talk about it a million times.  Because it was my dream when I was her age.

Well, some wishes Molly, are meant to come true only in our dreams.  What’s your dream?…..To fly?….

Yah, its been my dream for a long time.  And I know you can only fly with wings or pixie dust…….. 

Or, in your dreams…

Well…

Let me show you.  Just lay down.  I helped her to lay down on the bed.  Now, close your eyes.

Sigh, Mom…

Trust me, close your eyes……

I smoothed her hair out of her face, I stroked my finger along her forehead…

There you are, outside in the backyard, beneath the Maple. You look down and see your toes nestled in the cool grass. You look up and see the blue sky.  Its a perfect blue sky, the exact blue that beckons to you. You raise your hands up high and tilt your head to the sky, You can feel your feet leaving the earth, leaving the cool grass as your feet slowly pick up off the ground.  You can see yourself getting higher and higher closer to the tops of the trees. You fly your body around in circles, your toes dancing off the leaves.  And then you spring up, even higher and higher you go, the wind pressing against your face, your hair billowing behind you.. until there you are, flying around in the clouds. The perfect clouds, the kind that look like there made out of marshmallow.  You turn around and sit down onto the cloud and you sink into it, like your sitting on a huge pile of feathers. You throw yourself back and lay down and as you do , you can see whispers of the cloud float off into the air.  You move your arms up and down as if to make a snow angel, feeling the clouds airy softness.  You roll all around in sheer delight, nothing but blue sky and clouds all around you. When you decide, you lift yourself off and fly back down to the maple where you can hear the birds singing. You stop, and you look at the birds, you look them right in the eye and surprisingly they smile at you, they smile at you because at that moment they know.  They know what it is that you now know.  Something so incredibly special. And you smile back.

You let yourself come back to the earth, slowly falling down until your toes have met the smooth, cool grass once more.

So, could you see yourself flying….

With a big smile, Yah….

A time for change

My husband and I are at the stage in our lives where we are trying to get physically fit and healthy.  We are both in our thirties and are realizing that our bodies are just not as resilient as they used to be. Before too much time catches up with us, it is time for us to take a look at our lives and habits and make a change. 

While our grocery list does not include a lot of sweets, it does include a lot of carbs.  We eat fruits and veggies but it’s usually along side a plate full of noodles or a big honkin’ sandwich.  I mean, I like to feel full people and my body is trained to feel full off of grain and bread and pasta! Unfortunately, what I am learning is all the stuff I like to eat; is all the stuff that is going to give me that stubborn belly fat! I have read a few articles lately about how cutting out your carbs is actually more beneficial than cutting out fat. I would like for us to cut down on both and learn how to incorporate this into our life, so to prepare more balanced and nutritious meals for our family.  So therefore, goal number one is to research out and implement into our lives better eating habits.

Goal number two is to become more active.  Our dumpy mid sections are getting to us!  Were becoming dumpy and frumpy and at 1:00 on a Saturday we would rather take a nap instead of a bike ride (of course this may also be due to raising four children).  Well, its time to change that!  This summer, Mike has started going for bike rides at least 2-3 times a week and during the last week has really amped it up to just about every night.  He’s doing great and becoming stronger and able to go farther.  He would like to jog too, but due to knee issues biking is his thing right now.  Which is fine because he loves it!  I can see the changes already. He is shedding some inches from his midriff and he’s more energized and full of life.  As for me, I started the summer out taking long walks and finishing some of them off with a little jog home.  A week ago this past Sunday, I decided to kick it up a notch and really push the jogging thing.  Last fall, I started and almost completed the couch to 5k challenge so I was proud of myself when after two days I was jogging two miles.  I’m sure it is because of the effort I put in last fall that I was able to do this.  This is not a lot to some people but to me it is a good accomplishment and I am proud of it.  I pushed myself and on the third day jogged three miles.  I do not find myself shedding weight like Mike, and I am becoming achy and stiff in my knees and hips a little.  I just need to find the patience to wait for results and also let my legs rest a little more in the beginning rather than just go all gung ho. However, I am determined to push through this and prevail!

On top of the biking and jogging we have some strengthening and toning to do.  Mike hasn’t really started anything yet but he plans to. I have plans to start a routine for weekday mornings before the day gets going.  I’ve got the Jillian Michaels: Killer abs and trust me it truly is a killer! I’ve also got an exercise ball and my goal is to rotate the two activities for my morning workouts.

Our inspiration to keep us motivated; becoming healthier and living more fulfilling lives! This is our life and we need to take control of it!  We want to do this for us but also for our children.  Our children will learn a healthier way to eat and live and to stay active with exercise.  The other day our seven year old went for a jog with me and I loved it. We were bonding as we were doing our laps and looking at each other and smiling and breathing. I watched her hair bouncing in the sunlight as she trotted right there next to me, a big ole smile on her face the whole time!  All I could think was, I want this for the rest of my life! 

Images: Image1-edutopia.org, Image2-theironyou.com