My daughter came up to my this morning and wanted to show me how strong she has become. She has a daily routine that includes doing varied forms of physical exercises from home, one of them being push-ups. She folder her arms and made a tight fist to make her muscles stand out and made me feel her upper arm and yes, in fact, she was pretty pumped.....for an 11 year old. The look of triumph on her face as she watched my expression was one I deeply relished, as her mom and as a woman. Here is a young girl who not only feels at home in her body but likes it, feels strong in it, takes pride in it! I don't think I, at age 11, 21 or even 31 ever felt strong in my own body, certainly not pride and certainly not "at home" in it. I can't help to feel that I have done something right parenting this kid.
Two nights ago she made a plan to bike around the lake the next morning. She had been talking about about her "summer program" for weeks now and part of this program is daily physical exercise of some kind. She, being still a kid, needed someone (ME, or course) to go with her. So she drags me out of bed, barely after sunrise, to accompany her around the local lake here. Luckily, my marathon training began that very same day, so hey, nothing like a nagging pre-teen to get you out of bed and on the trails before you can say no. I chugged along as she wizzed past me on her bike, back and forth, back and forth around the 4-mile route we decided on the night before. Today I am due for 5 miles run and again, she is going to ride alongside me, back and forth, back and forth. One thing I never planned for when having kids is having them be my motivation for working out...but, I am open to this.... life is full of surprises!
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