Skip to main content

Rubenesque at 50


As I was slathering on lotion after my shower the other day, I made the mistake of glancing in the mirror. And the thought that leapt to mind was, "I'm Rubenesque". The next thought was, "I am not happy with that analogy!"

Of course the latter thought was more strongly worded and might have included an expletive or two. Or three or four.

In a society that champions thin, Rubenesque is certainly not a prized state of being and it is taking all kinds of courage to admit this in this public forum, but I feel it's something I must do to get my Rubunesque butt into a more desired shape. I have let my MS gradually immobilize me to the point where fear of falling or tripping or looking klutzy are the glue that's keeping me in place. And the glue is made all the stronger by the snow and ice awaiting me as soon as leave the house. Nothing good can happen by hibernating in fear - in fact quite the opposite. So, I've committed to daily exercise - for now it's in the comfort and safety of my own home with my Wii Fit. And by the time the snow and ice have melted and given way to green grass, I will be out and about - I won't be running any marathons but I will be out with my Igor Shuffle proud to be shaping my Rubenesque form into something more modern. And healthy.

In addition to letting fear keep me from venturing out much, it has kept this big personality from the people she loves and needs. I am not much of a wallflower - haven't been since junior high. I am like one of those "People who need people" Barbra Streisand sang about it Funny Girl. I need my peeps!

And since, I've now broadcast this to the world I have a lot of accountability partners. I will exercise daily and will be out-and-about more often - despite my fear of falling. So accountability partners, help me stick to it!



Comments

  1. You are one of the most beaitiful people I have ever known. True dat. Nothing has ever changed that.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

When being negative is positive and other wonky 'things' in the time of Covid

The world is upside down and back ass-ward. Know what I mean? I was chatting with a cousin the other day and her potential exposure to the corona virus. I wrote, "I'll say prayers for negative results for all. Don't like negativity but these days negative is a positive." Back ass-ward. Remember when we first went in to shut-down mode in mid-March? We were told that it was to flatten the curve of hospital admissions so that our ICU's didn't run out of capacity and to ease the virus' spread. It felt then like we were in this together, all of us were going to help beat this virus and stay home. (Aside from the run on toilet paper!) We were committed, or so it seemed, and our closets were going to be cleaned, our junk drawers were going to be a thing of the past, our garages/basements/and other yucky places were going to gleam. We were going to read "War and Peace" or "Hamilton" or other weighty tomes that we'd always wanted to read. We...

Is that a wagon in the distance?

I fell off the wagon. Well, that might sound a little accidental. When in reality it was more like, "I'm getting bored with this wagon ride, so I think I'll just get off here." And then I kicked the crap out of that wagon until it was but a distant dot down the road. In this case the wagon was my commitment to that silly Wii Fit. I got tired of hearing that stupid trainer say things like "you seem a little wobbly today" (to which I would say something classy like "No shit Sherlock!") or for the scale to move ever so slightly - and ever-so-slightly wasn't  enough to keep me motivated. I needed more!!! So, I jumped off the wagon. Makes a lot of sense, right? WRONG!  But justification is a powerful thing and something I've nearly perfected these many years losing, then gaining, then losing, then gaining . . . the same 40 pounds. Heck, you could say that by now I have a PhD in Justification.  And here's the thing, that wagon is st...
My aunt recently commented about my blog that I do a  "great job of sharing things very personal without them being morbid, too dramatic, TOO personal". I am about to let her down . . . It's been a tough week.  We learned that a man we knew from treatment at UofM, with a similar cancer, passed away on Tuesday. We knew that just after the treatment at UofM concluded, that his cancer had meta-sized to his lungs and other treatments (including one at John's Hopkins) did not help. John Cleasby was only 57. In my mind, I can see his face in the chemo infusion room at UofM - coping as all the patients were. He was a quiet and gentle man - who happened to be married to a former co-worker of mine. While sitting next to each other in the infusion area, it seemed a blessing that I found a long-lost friend in the chaos that was the UofM Cancer Center and hospital. Bonnie Cleasby and I shared so much and had such similar outlooks. "We are going to beat this thing", ...