The children swim, while Charlie and I steal away to work out. We can actually see them from where the weight-lifting room is situated. While we're pumping iron, we're watching the children swimming laps. And while the children aren't exactly keen on swimming five days a week, the way Charlie and I see it:
1) it's fantastic exercise for them (and us),
2) they are getting quite good at it, and
3) it allows Charlie and I the critical opportunity to go work out at the gym.
For YEARS we've struggled with finding the time to go work out, and we've now finally found that opportunity while the kids are at swim team. I'm very sorry that they don't like getting in to a chilly pool. But on the upside, they get to sit in the hot-tub for a few minutes following their workout. AND! I know that:
4) they'll take showers every night after practice. Because for those not in the know, tweens and personal hygiene go together like Christmas and diets. (i.e., they don't.)
Ah, bliss!
Considering my 83-year-old mother still swims laps every single day, I know that ALSO…
5) this is a skill that they will have for their entire life, and one day - - maybe not until 71 years from now - - they'll thank me for it. So in advance of that: you are so very welcome, my preciously beloved children who read these stories in the Year of our Lord, 2088.
It also helps that we go to the gym so much, because Charlie and I love food, and we're currently weaning ourselves from unabashedly eating everything in sight during the Christmas holidays. We're significantly scaling back right now, trying to re-accustom our bodies to "healthy" eating and this thing called "portion control." Wow, did we eat well during the month of December… so much lovely wonderful home-cooked / baked food every! single! day!
It felt like we were living on a Food Network set!
My husband just came in to the kitchen where I'm typing this @ 10:00 PM and said, (and I quote): "Jen, I am savagely hungry. I am so damn hungry to my core. WOMAN, LISTEN! I need food. MAN FOOD. No more of this salad stuff. I need a chicken burrito. FEED ME!"
Yep. Thank Goodness for swim team.
