Maggie, The Apple of My Eye!

Life is getting in the way lately but I am not complaining. For instance I am sitting here at work and can hardly focus on anything because tomorrow my baby girl will have scoliosis correction surgery. There is a much longer medical term for this but I can’t spell it and you can’t pronounce it so I figure why bother.

She is now fourteen years old and braver than I was at her age. This girl amazes me with how calm and focused she is. I am scared to death and she is determined as hell.

Last week, my wife gave her an opportunity to cancel the operation when she finally made mention of her fears and she said “no I want it done”. It is amazing how kids can be so brave and when they should be leaning on their parents for support their parents are secretly leaning on them for the same help. 

It will be a long stressful five hour waiting period tomorrow I am sure but in the end with God’s help I feel confident that all will work out for the best.

My daughter as is my son is everything to me. She is so much like me that it annoys me, but then again she is so very different than I am that I am in awe of her greatness. We have the same sense of humor which absolutely disgusts my wife some days and helps us to relate to each other on a different level other times as we try to out do each other. Basically, she gets me and what else could a father want than to be understood by his daughter.

Most days I can do nothing but shake my head as I watch her grow into a beautiful young lady. I am sure this will be another thing that will keep me awake at night. If my sister thought she had it hard with me looking over her shoulder I can imagine my baby girl will also have a more difficult time of it with any boy that dares to step foot into my house.

Maggie is as smart as a whip and loving, she gets that from her mother, but she is also carefree, confident and above all caring of others at the same time. I cannot wait to see her beautiful smiling face after this is all over with tomorrow and then watch her take on high school over the next four years.

I ask that you keep her in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days. 

On a different subject; I decided to go back to being 100% Primal, and made my adjustments over the weekend to starting today. I feel at my best when I am eating this way and decided it was time to buckle down and get to business. I have become so much healthier over the past few years with Beachbody fitness programs being my primary vehicle toward a better lifestyle. I am stronger and feel much better but nutrition was something I never really totally committed to.

When I did the 21 Day Primal Blueprint in June of 2012 during my transition from my old job to my current job I lost 16 pounds in that twenty-one day period and I should have never stopped.  I spent the weekend putting things in place and I am looking forward to committing and making the next set of changes in my journey.

The goal is to be in better shape at 50 years old than I was when I was 30 years old and sadly I do not think it will be all that hard to accomplish. Maybe I should make that goal 20? Maybe I will. That’s what goal setting is all about. 

Summer Obsession!

First day of summer for the kids from school today, this is the time of year when believe it or not I have a difficult time working out. I lack the motivation to get up and get things done before I have the fatherly duties of driving my daughter to school. Without that looming over my head I procrastinate and end up missing my window to get done the things I should. The kids are home so I lack the push to head out into the garage and execute.

Last year at this time I had six days until I would be unemployed for the next five months and I started out this time with the confidence that I would find work in no time so I was looking forward to a few weeks off with the family. Two months later I was most likely clinically depressed and did not realize it. What kept me from sinking as low as you can go? Being a Beachbody Coach and whichever workout I would do that day. I also discovered the Primal Blue Print and changed most of my eating habits. This summer I will dive deeper into my Primal experiments and commit more effort to see how I can continue to improve my health. These things kept a bad situation from being a horrible experience.

   

It’s easy to think that working out lasts only as long as a workout. Wrong! Your goals and your method for getting there need to be with you day and night. A rolling list of to do’s: drink your water, watch your posture and be become more aware of your body, eat more food, resist the bad food, stretch that muscle group, research that question, find support for that issue, help others to succeed in their goals, drink your water, it is a continuous process day in and day out.

Some people call the workouts I have been doing an obsession, and my behavior obsessive. If it is, it must rank as a healthy one and it certainly doesn’t hurt anyone. I manage to hold down a challenging career, be a present parent in both of my children’s life, a supportive husband, coach a little baseball, and maintain a pretty active outgoing life with friends and family, all intertwined quite happily with this ‘obsession’.

Because of my obsession I have become a better parent, better husband and a better person. I know this just by the way I wake up each morning and get out of bed with that much more energy than I did before all of this started. I look myself in the mirror each morning and like the changes I am making and the progress I see. Everyone should be this obsessive about their life, you only get one.