Just coming back from visiting our daughter and family in Phoenix, I am still trying to figure out why I gained weight over the last week. The entire week I was there, Jodi kept trying to inspire me with her new tales of what exercise class was doing for her and how, if I, would just go with her to class, I would feel better and have more energy, with less cravings. As I drank the awful shake she had made me try of flax seed, kale and cucumbers, I began to ponder that she might be right. she immediately tells me that I would probably need to crawl to the back of the van as we were headed to pick up her mother-in-law for lunch and she is not able to crawl to the back. (Has Jodi remembered that I am not still 35?)Mind you there are 2 baby seats with wires in the middle seats so it takes great agility to step up over wires to the DVD’s and with nothing to hold on to but the baby seats, all the while stepping over school backpacks, discarded McDonald, Chick Fila sacks and water bottles on the floor van.
When I thought about it, I informed little miss, “Yoga Guru” that I didn’t need to pay to exercise, I got all the muscle stretching that I could stand right there in the van. I also reminded her about the quick trips to the back of the van to grab Kleenex to wipe the little darling’s noses got me in a position that took me hours to get out of, made my case in point.
During the week in Phoenix, there were times that I would go in to potty (I know, TMI) only to discover that the toilet paper that was there just a few minutes earlier had been yanked and carried off by the 3 year old to take to his mom for wiping his nose. So there I would sit, trying to figure out if I should yell for help, drip dry, or use one of the used pull ups that was in the trash can (NO IT WAS NOT MY PULL UP).
The visits they are achanging. With them now having one teenager and 1 elementary child, plus a VERY strong willed 3 year old, our mother-daughter times were now complex. We use to be able to put them down for a nap while Eric stayed home with them and we would escape. Now, because there are no more naps, and because the school age kids go and get out at different times and the 3 year old only falls asleep while watching videos while she drives around in the van, our mother-daughter time is limited to van riding. We kidding about finding a drive thru salon for pedicures, and found ourselves riding around eating salads from our laps, so Noah wouldn’t wake up. It made me realize that I have to find something here in Dallas to keep me in shape so my body will stay in shape for the next visit of crawling back and forth in the van. As soon as Noah would wake up, he would cry for a certain toy which we would see had been thrown in the very back and guess who got the joy of crawling back over the seats to retrieve it..?
My idea for a mini-van commercial:
“No time for exercise? No extra money to join a gym? Buy our van, your body will thank you! Stretching and muscle building while you carpool. Great way for grannies to keep up muscle tones while visiting their grandkids. Plenty of door pockets to hold Depends for times when you sneeze as you are crawling over the seats to wipe those little precious noses”.
Mini-Van’s….buy them for your health.
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