Skip to main content

Smiley faces, gold stars and achievement

Day six of my daily Wii-Fit routine.  (Well. actually day five since I had to miss Saturday for Delaney's singing competition at Western Michigan University where I had to schlep from the parking ramp to the music building and back a few times which felt like exercise enough so that by the time I got home, I was too tired to Wii).

I enjoy some of the activities or exercises more than others - including the marching band, Kung Fu and boxing. If you're not familiar with Wii Fit, I'm sure it sounds fairly lame and not much of an 'exercise'. But for someone who is way out of shape, it's a start and kind of fun! For the marching band, I imagine the high school band director, Andrew Holtz, snickering as I often march out of rhythm. And I remember Matthew laughing at me (not with) when he saw me doing the Kung Fu and John did the same when he saw me boxing. I now do Wii in the privacy of the basement when no one is around so I don't have any more memories of inciting laughter!

I must confess to being secretly thrilled, however, when I receive the highest score (where I receive a gold crown) and the compliments of my Wii trainer! It is a lot like the smiley faces and gold stars we receive in elementary school for a job well done!


I am looking forward to reaching that three-week mark when research has proven that a new activity becomes a routine. There was a time when I exercised daily or nearly every day - I remember the feeling and that's what I want to get back to - that feeling of needing and loving the work out. Only 15 more days!

Comments

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

Going off the Rails on a Crazy Train

While getting an MRI recently, I selected to listen to a classic rock station. Actually I requested a station that played 70s or 80s music and the tech asked if I wanted pop or rock. "Well, classic rock would probably be better since I have to hold still," I responded. "If I listened to pop, I'd want to be dancing." And so I laid perfectly still while listening (or kind of listening since really in an MRI you never really drown out the loud bangs, whirs and booms). And it came to pass that the song "Crazy Train" started playing and I started to silently and stillfully laugh to myself. What a strangely perfect song for this moment in my life. Ozzy Osbourne was singing my song (has anyone ever really said that ever before???)! "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train," he sings/screams. (and a bunch of other lyrics I didn't understand because well, I was in an MRI and he was kind of screaming) You see the reason was that the MR...

I had to use a calculator

I have been living with MS since 1992 - I used the calculator on my phone to determine that it's 29 years (because unlike the man pictured above my math skills are lacking). That's a long time and you don't need to be mathematically inclined to come to that conclusion. And when first diagnosed, my neurologist declared that with all the research he believed a cure was imminent likely 'within five years'. that would mean that we would have had the cure 24 years ago. We don't. So I am grateful I didn't wager any money on Dr. Wiley's prediction.  But what we do have, instead of a cure, is a plethora of pharmaceuticals to help stem this disease's progression and help us live fuller lives, longer. I am happy for that but am also curious and a tad skeptical because these drugs cost a person living with MS a lot of money and pharma has no financial incentive to search for the cure when they can keep us living less gimpy lives for many years reliant on their ...

Now it looks like Christmas!

It's a snow globe out there! Only, with a real snow globe the snow eventually settles and the globe becomes clear. Not here though - the snow keeps falling and falling and falling. I'm sure that my Mom in Arizona is watching the weather channel and seeing this as a Ziggy-cloud of snow over the Piggins' house. A repeat of last winter and the one before that! Right now, I don't mind the snow so much. It's beautiful to look at from the warmth of my home. And it muffles sound, creating a greater sense of peace like we're wrapped in a blanket of snow. And here's a real bonus, it's looking like Christmas and since I still haven't taken down my tree or decorations I can almost fool myself that it's okay that I procrastinated! Today, I will look at my lighted Christmas tree, put a fire in the fireplace, sit on the couch with my 80-pound lap dog and read a book. My snow story will take on a much different tone in a few weeks when it still hasn't...