Married To The Elliptical

This year my summer presented little in the way of extravagant family vacations. For the past few months, my husband and I were lucky enough to make it through the week without a stress-induced, adult-sized meltdown and the weekends were a source of refuge to recoup livelihood and lost sleep. Even so, our last ditch effort to pull together an eventful excursion materialized brazenly in the latter part of August. My husband informed the office of his day off, I cancelled appointments, mine and the kids', and off we all journeyed into our adventurous weekend. Now, if you are a frequent reader of Mom Looks Great's newsletter, you may already know that I "holler", kickbox, partake in certain quantities of caffeine, and succumb to a few other Type-A tendencies. While my husband's tastes sometimes differ from mine, our personalities are quite similar. He's a little on the intense side too. Subsequently, there are times when the volume goes up when our viewpoints differ. Enter Day 2 of our vacation. The morning started out very even keel. We lingered about the hotel room getting dressed followed by a leisurely stroll to the dining area for a light breakfast. But it was after eating, when we went outside to find horribly cold weather, unsuited for our thinly layered clothes that the mood began to turn a bit. The discussion regarding details of the day progressed in the parking lot, prompting us to all get into the car to keep warm while the agenda materialized. Precious time was ticking away and my older son's whiny requests to see a highly-anticipated dolphin show begin to add to the ongoing escalating tempo of our discussion. It was here that the heat inside our car went up a few more degrees. Slowly but surely, we eventually entered ourselves into a full-blown, family-size, let's-just-go-home tizzy. The nastiness of the disagreement heightened while our good character and patience rapidly diminished. Luckily, after catching a couple breaths of maturity, the attitudes softened, heart rates began to slow and we all calmed down. Smiles at our audacity begin to flash, we finally reached an agenda and the steady flow returned. Off we went to enjoy the best family time we had all year. I recalled this event early one Sunday morning while chugging away on an elliptical trainer. It was there my article was born. How similar the elliptical is to my marriage. There we will be, my husband and I haplessly making our way through our daily hectic life. This is similar to the first couple of low intensity bars in the pre-programmed sequence on the high-tech machine. Then, all the sudden there is a hiccup in status quo - the first increase of elevation. This hiccup, as the elevation, is just enough to get your attention and cause slight discomfort...and disagreement. Then, finding no immediate resolution, the intensity of that original hiccup as well as those next few bars will augment into a more chaotic episode. This is when your breathing hastens and the sweat begins to bead. It is now that you are really feeling a temptation to get loud or quit. Finally, at the peak of this mountain, you feel that you cannot go on, it is too hard and you have had darn near enough of this particular engagement. It is here that we often wonder why we intentionally subject ourselves to the duress? Suddenly, what seems to be a miracle happens. In the knick of time, peace is restored in each area as you either reach your cool down period of your cardio training session or put forth tempered communication resulting in responsible compliance. Whew! Yes, for those who hold on and struggle through the most painful and troublesome moments, victory rears its elaborate head. If you are a wife, girlfriend or any significant other as well as an exercise enthusiast, you understand this dual meaning. In love we endure harsh, and sometimes cruel battles; and, whether you make up two hours, two days or two weeks later, you know that you did not just persist through another difficult moment, you also sustained a relationship that makes a difference in your life. Similarly, in exercise we also have to endure burning, self-testing moments. And, when that cruel piece of digitalized metal announces the completion of our ordeal we realize that we have just completed another moment in a lifestyle that will sustain not only our longevity, but also the quality of our life. The diamond remains a dull and jagged rock unless friction is applied. Think of how low our resilience for life would be without the trials of one of our most valued relationships. Not only would we be weak-minded but we would have too few experiences to help our children get through during their lifetime. Likewise, our body needs to endure challenge. Along with chiseling our physique, it sends our blood flurrying through its vessels, frantically dispelling cardon dioxide and replenishing in abundance the breath of life, oxygen. For me, these frequent engagements supply a fulfilled life for the heart of a mother, literally. And that is why I continuously pursue both, the labor of love and the love of labor.