Friday, February 01, 2013

Soft and Sensitive

We have a running joke in this house. When horse play gets out of hand and mom (that's me) fears that either I'll get trampled or my glasses broken, I slur in a very slurry voice, "Careful, I'm soft and sensitive."  The first time I said that, what seems like a million years ago, the girls stopped jumping on me only to fall over in a gale of laughter.... You might to have had to be there to get the full impact. But it worked.

Now a million years later, I still say the soft and sensitive words when rough housing grows to a mommy extreme. But for mommy these words have taken on a different meaning. Before, when I would say them, it was a joke. Although sensitive, Mommy wasn't soft. I was a slim trim walking biking machine. I could handle my own in the horsing around arena, sans glasses. It's the glasses and the inability to see without them that truly frightens me, but I sort of digress.

Right after turning 50, I started, through no wish of my own, to take on that grandma softness. You know when you hug a grandmother and they are all warm, soft and cozy. Like a blanket without the fringe.  With a soft and cozy lap; great for grandchildren to crawl up into. (Yes, I miss my nana.)

Granted I'm old enough to have grandchildren. But I was a late starter; very late. My girls aren't ready to be mamas. But that hasn't seemed to affect my hormonal clock.

Friends offer support by acknowledging, "It happens." Doctors offer encouragement, " Exercise and eat a good diet." I try, but still I'm becoming grandmotherly.Yesterday while wrestling off my sweaty tshirt from a stint on the treadmill, my arm brushed against my soft and sensitive belly. Immediately I had a vision of nana. A warmth filled my core, and for a nanosecond I was sitting on her lap.



Maybe being soft and sensitive is okay; something I will have to grow into.

4 comments:

Jeff Noel said...

Patty, to thine own self be true.

And as Craig and I just had a blog comment "conversation", life is full of distractions, and we must figure out which are the good ones and which are temptations and excuses.

Sitting here, in Allentown, next to my Father-in-law who turned 87 at midnight.

He knows exercise isn't for how you look, it's for how we feel and for how we function.

And both of those are very challenging for him.

Patty Hebert said...

Thanks for the comment Jeff. Weight gain and arthritis plague my family. Some throw their hands up and say this is it, settling for a sedentary lifestyle. Others fight the battle. Personally, I feel better being active and thinner. Less wear and tear on the joints. But it is a battle that wages everyday.

What's an interesting blessing is my recent knee surgery. At first the Physical Therapist said do each exercise once a week. There are 7 of them. But when my leg wasn't improving to her liking she recommended doing all of them at least 5 times a week. Now it is coming along. Good as new or better; both legs. As tough as it is to exercise M-F it is now my routine. Even on tough start days like today.

The long way is the short cut. :-)

Happy Birthday to your father in law. Blessings to you all.

Anonymous said...

My sister is a stay puff marshmallow!

ROFLMAO

Now that is a way to lose weight!

Patty Hebert said...

Dude, you make me laugh.