It's Been 23 Years!

As my 13 year old and I waited in the Doctors exam room yesterday and after I had ordered her to stop spinning in the chair, she noticed the Adult Weight Chart on the wall. After I calmed her fears that she was not severely underweight, she asked me my weight. I gulped hard and told her the truth. (No, I am not going to tell YOU!) She then informed me that I was smack in the middle of the red zone or Stage I Obesity. I didn't even look up from The New Yorker. "Sweetie, that is wrong. Check again, please." "But Mom, it says that at 5' 9" and XXX lbs. you are obese." "Darling, I haven't been 5'9" since I was your age. Your Momma is a scootch under 6' tall. Check again."

It turned out that I am within 15 lbs. of being in the healthy Green zone. Hurray for me! I can drop 15 lbs. standing on my head. Except that I have being trying to lose 20 lbs. for the last 2 years with very little luck. I chalk up my failure to poor dietary choices (chocolate after 8 pm) and lack of exercise. Don't get me wrong, I am active. Hell, between hauling full laundry baskets up and down stairs, being able to carry my screaming, thrashing 38 pound 4 year old out of the market and washing tons of dishes each day I am a fitness freak...at least in my own mind. My body tells a different story.

What to do? Why, get my bicycle down from where it has hung in the garage for the last 2 years. And head off to the bike shop to drop it off for a tune up. And buy a brand new, spiffy bike helmet. Blue and shiny. All of this means that I think, possibly, maybe, I guess I might get back on a bike again. Other then a few trial rides 2 years ago before the ex moved out, I have not been on a bike in (hold on, I'm counting) 23 years. That's a heck of a long time.

Wait, I have a good excuse. 23 years ago the ex, then boyfriend, and I rode our bicycles across the United States. Vancouver B.C. to Hartford CT. Yup, 4,500 hundred miles in 83 days. I swore when we finished that I would never, ever get on another bicycle again as long as I lived. Well, never say never. I can pick up my bike next Friday and then it's the open road for me. Or at least our neighborhood side streets until I remember how to shift. Wish me luck! Lord knows, I'll need it.