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.