My mother called me a haint.haint [ haynt ]One of my friends told me that I have forsaken family and friends for exercise.
noun
Definition:
Southern U.S. ghost: a ghost or other phenomenon believed to be supernatural
My brother feigns surprise whenever he catches me at home.
And my cousin said something like I bet you went rock climbing when she asked about a fish fry that I was absent from.
I'm so grateful that I'm not as defensive as I used to be.
A couple of episodes ago on The Biggest Loser, Ashley said that people were sneaking away to get in exercise. I feel like I have to sneak away sometimes especially when I want to double my exercise efforts.
On the other side of the world, when my mother saw how devoted I was to exercise, she started taking water aerobics classes which helps with her arthritis and achy knees.
My brother called me the incredible shrinking woman and my friend recently asked me to show her some exercises for her abs since she is having persistent back problems. So, there we were on a Friday night working on our abdominal muscles.
I wish that I could have the fish fry back. My aunt is prone to cook large amounts of fried fish, fried hush puppies, fried okra etc. and, when I mentioned that to her, she said How could you think that I did not consider you? My aunt had baked some fish for me. I definitely wanted a do-over on that one.
And my cousin?
When I started this journey, I walked and walked. I was reading Prevention and saw and ad for a marathon and I started training to walk in a marathon because I had heard of people losing weight this way.
As I walked in Forest Park, an aunt joined me then my cousin joined us.
The three of us participated in the 2008 Go! St. Louis Marathon.My cousin got a scare recently when the doctor told her that her blood sugar was elevated which was definitely cause for concern since my cousin's father and every last one of his siblings has diabetes.
Last Sunday my cousin, aunt and I were sitting on the couch talking and my cousin said that she went to the doctor and all of her tests, including cholesterol and glucose, showed improvement.
Thank you, she said. If it had not been for you, I would not have started going back to the gym.
I almost fell off the couch.
My cousin has lost 21 pounds since she rejoined a gym about a year ago.
I stand accused. Sort of...
