Workouts, Writing & Wittee Women

I just started another eight-week round of twice a week boot-camp-like exercise in the Momma Wants Her Body Back Class with instructor, Codi Howell. Courtney and I signed up again with six other wannabe-fit women. The motivation for us to sweat like we've never sweat before, to jump up and down and jiggle body parts till they feel like they're falling off (I still don't have a sports bra - must get one), and to feel great about it when we're done - is a little different for each of us. The younger women who've recently had babies truly want their body back. Those of us in the class who are grandmas (three of us again this time), want to be able to take care of grandchildren - holding, lifting, chasing after, and generally keeping up with them for the foreseeable future. (This photo is probably the best one you'll see of me when I'm exercising. :-))

But, having experienced the first eight weeks in March and April, I saw and heard the motivation change from wanting to do something for others, to becoming much more personal. Courtney is glowing with self-confidence and so proud that she found out she really can run in spite of spinal surgery three years ago. Another young women has decided she too will become a certified trainer and is well on her way to doing just that. Another grandma held a plank for almost six minutes at the end of the last session and signed up again because she likes the exercise and how it makes her feel. (She looks younger than her first photos, by the way). I know I'm stronger than I was and can feel the difference as I continue trying to get much more done each day than time allows. (Today after a WIT breakfast, I got the car washed, shopped at Safeway, walked a couple miles in DeCoursey and Clark's Creek Parks looking for great photo sites for this weekend's shoots, stopped by Adoption Ministry, shopped at Costco, went to the bank and with Scott to pick up our van from being serviced at the dealership, caught up on email, and after finishing this blog will edit about 60 glamour photos which will probably take at least four hours and I still feel great!) And I don't dread exercising or doing planks any more. I'm still a wimp at some of the exercises, but certainly willing to keep working at them. Codi also gets to use me as an example since at 67, I'm the oldest in the class. For more information about Body Back, visit Codi's facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/BodyBackPuyallup.

This morning at the breakfast get together of the WIT women (Women in Transition), we had some missing members, but a couple of the women who participated in my Writing Memoir classes at the Puyallup Senior Activities Center joined us. What fun! An original WIT woman, MaryBeth, knew Carol right away since they'd gone to high school together. Another Bonnie came as well, and soon the morning evaporated as we shared time, experiences, adventures, plans and bounced ideas off one another.

This is a casual group that started over two years ago - hard to believe - for the purpose of networking and supporting one another as we either started new businesses, were facing retirement, or had other transitions going on in our lives. (When aren't women in transition?) Once we hit on the topic of writing, MaryBeth, who is a skilled writer, shared with us that she used to write to her daughter every year on her daughter's birthday. Her daughter had asked to know about the day of her birth. So each year MaryBeth would write about some aspect of the day/event. As the years went on, she had to become more creative and one year wrote the story as a fairy tale. Carol then shared that on the day of her great grandson's birth, she wrote a four-page letter to him about all the events of the day, her daughter and son-in-laws reactions and of course, how she felt about all of it. What a treasure. She gave the letter to them and they are now sharing it with others. She had also shared the letter in the memoir class.

Bonnie - the other Bonnie - is an avid traveler who is keeping a notebook of ideas for stories to write. She shared a bit with us the morning about recent trips to San Diego and Coeur d'alene and in class, she'd written about adventures traveling the Alcan Highway in Alaska in 1985, a trip she wants to repeat soon. This led to MaryBeth sharing her adventures a couple years ago driving her RV alone from here to Florida and back.

I am so blessed to have all these positive influences in my life. In fact, Carol shared this morning that she is ridding her life of negative influences. If she feels worse after having been with someone, she trys not to repeat the experience. If we could only all make those choices!

In the meantime, thinking of workouts which leave us sore, transitions in life which leave us wondering, and people who aren't always positive as a necessary pathway to something better - helps us recognize and appreciate positive blessings when they're presented to us.

Like sunshine after the rain - workouts, writing classes and Wittee women bring a glow to my life and warmth to my heart.  www.BonnieKingPhotography.com