Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Because we’re friends

One of my closest friends is doing a 14 day yoga and cleanse challenge. She posted on Facebook asking if anyone would do it with her, so I raised my hand.

I’ve known Kerry since 2001. We shared a back wall for our cubes and worked on the same technical training development team. We’ve been there for each other through good times and bad, and there’s not much I wouldn’t do for her.

In early 2006, after my sixth major abdominal surgery, I begged Kerry to go to Pilates with me. I told her I needed someone to go with me because I’d never done it before and because I thought it would be good to have an accountability partner. I was—no joke—afraid my guts were going to end up down by my knees if I didn’t get my abs in order. She agreed without hesitation and we had a blast going first to Pilates classes and then later, after we met Cindy (an instructor who is amazing—long story but trust me, she’s awesome), we included yoga too. I credit us going faithfully twice a week for me really kicking off my dedication to staying fit and also with my much faster recovery after my seventh major abdominal surgery later that year.

She stuck with me long distance too, when we moved to Boston. In fact, other than my younger son and his family, she and her husband were the only ones to come visit us. That meant the world to me because Boston was not an easy place to live and while I made some good friends, I missed the KC ones.

This year, she and her family relocated to southern Georgia. I think in many ways what she’s done is harder than when Kent and I moved. She’s lived in the KC area since she was about five (except for college) so this is home in a very real sense. Her mother and sister and nephews live here, and her husband’s family is from Emporia, which is just a couple of hours south. So she’s completely uprooted herself.

Now you might think that I’m not one for cleanses and you'd be right; I’d rather live right every day. The foods that we’re supposed to eat in this cleanse? Well no. One of the presenters said we should eat things that animals could find and eat in nature, and I agree with that. She said you’d never find a brown rice pasta bush in the wild, but then went on to say that we should drink a green smoothie (that has protein powder as an ingredient) every day. I’m absolutely positive there are no green smoothie trees or protein powder bushes out there in the wild.

And the one thing that drives me batty about yoga is when I inadvertently find a work out (sorry, I’m not calling it a practice) that emphasizes the spiritual side of yoga. I respect that others feel that way but I don’t. However, for Kerry I will most definitely ignore the ohms and any talk about a higher power (or more likely just repurpose it to align with what I believe).

So far, I’ve done three days of workouts—the first day was pretty good, all about the abs which I’m always up for. The second day . . . well let’s just say I did the abbreviated version and then did aerobics. Today’s session was a great workout and I tuned out the instructor’s spiritual talk.

Probably the best part of doing this (aside from wanting to be there for Kerry, the way she’s always been there for me) is that I don’t know these workouts. I can’t just phone it in and that’s a very good thing. But I’m not going to drink any green smoothies.

4 comments:

Jen Shear said...

You are a good friend. Are you going to post before and after pictures? :) your green smoothies comment made me crack up! All these fad cleanses are crazy...not to mention that green smoothies (esp with protein powder) can be really high in calories!

Anonymous said...

I agree -- no to green smoothies.

KD said...

I'm just now reading this and crying like a baby!!! You are truly the sort of friend that is, in my heart, family. I do appreciate you doing this with me.

You crack me UP! I've found the "cleanse" to be not that hard or different except there is no wine or coffee and well, I personally declared Saturday a "cheat day". We have started to make green smoothies (no added powders thankyouverymuch). But see, we are smoothie fans here. Typically just fruit and other normal ingredients. This time we're adding spinach or kale or chard. It's actually been really yummy, and filling. This we'll probably continue long after the 14th day.

Yoga is a different story. No Cindy here. No clubs to join that actually offer classes. So, I've dedicated an area of the new house to yoga complete with candles and plants soothing artwork. And, I bought a subscription to GaiamTV and run videos from my iPad. It's not nearly as fun as working out with you, but I can fondly remember the days. Oh, and I'm not shy about cracking up when the routine includes ohms and flapping wings. I sure don't have to stifle the laughter in boat pose remembering your Mr. FartyMcFartFart comment. Going to a quiet, polite, professional yoga class with you is HARD! Bwhahahahaha!

Namaste.

edj3 said...

Yeah no smoothies. But it's been fun, I'm planning on a wrap up post when I've finished.