It Pays to be a Woman

My wife grabbed W and ran off to the grocery store. She texts me half an hour later with a picture of one of the tires (see below). Apparently it is flat. But she has made it to an air pump somewhere.

She really does have a knack for finding sharp objects with our tires.

I'm not overly stressed because we only have the one car, so there's literally nothing I can do for her other than offer encouragement and advice. Before she has much time to consider her options, a guy approaches her having noticed the flat tire and gives her a can of fix-a-flat: "This here should git you goin." And then he took off.

I text her the address of our tire place. She's still somewhat uncertain how to proceed with the fix-a-flat stuff, and before much longer another guy approaches and does all of the work for her. And if the fix-a-flat doesn't do the trick, he's got a tire plug he'll install.

The next I hear from her she's at the tire place, she's standing near the car which is on jacks, and W is blissfully unaware, sleeping in the car.

My final advice to S:

Keep up with the exercise and eating well and you'll never again have to lift a finger to help yourself – other than caring for your family, of course.

Motivation is motivation, whatever the form.

It pays to be a woman.

Exercise Habits

I've been thinking more about exercise and habits. When you're single or married with no kids, you likely have a lot of free time. Your exercise / workout routines are golden. Then you have a baby...or five. Your perfectly scheduled and timed routines are of no consequence to this child (or children). Your routines suffer as your priorities shift from being you-focussed, to helping sustain the people you created (them-focussed); people who rely on you. Then, those babies turn into kids and you've instilled routines into them, and you're no longer hamstrung by the same challenges a baby presents, but your habits have been dead for years. And you're fat.

I think if I could step back, I would still forsake my workouts (it was just so much of a time investment), but I'd do something – anything – just to keep the habits in place, even if it just meant a jog around the block. Then I wouldn't be faced with re-establishing the habits later on; just ramping up the exercise.