Working out the work out

If there's one thing all this snow is good for, it's to remind me how much I miss going to the gym because let me tell you, my body protests louder and louder every time I am out there pushing that snow thrower around and shoveling another foot of snow.

Yeah, I used to go to the gym. A long time ago, I was so there three, sometimes four times a week. Tommy and Christopher participated in the Powerkidz program and I did my cardio and weight lifting work out. One time, I even tried an aerobics class, but it was a total bust because who knew all the aerobics lingo that prompted the moves you were supposed to follow? Not me! Wait! I do remember something about a grapevine...

Anyway, aerobics wasn't my thing. I preferred to follow my own agenda and if I wanted to skip cardio one day to go for a swim instead, nobody was there to stop me. Plus, when I was pregnant with Joey, the swimming was a welcome respite from the otherwise more aggressive work out I had to cut back on the closer I got to my due date. And after Joey was born, I even paid somebody to watch him three mornings a week until he was three months old, when he could be left in the Kidz Korner room.

Then, I don't know what happened. I got busy. Too busy to get three kids out the door and I tried to do my work outs at home, but we all know how well that works if you have kids underfoot and are lacking the equipment you got used to enjoyed at a gym. I don't think I was even a member there long enough to earn the title of Gym Rat and really, I didn't care.

Until now. Just dragging trash barrels 100 feet uphill to the edge of the road is a work out. Never mind shoveling or pushing that blasted snow thrower that has been getting a better work out than the person pushing it.

Today's snowfall was a challenge. Although it was light, it was deep, and it took quite a long time to clear the driveway. The snowbanks are so high that the snow has nowhere to go and then passing by the edge would cause mini avalanches and I couldn't just leave them there, so I'd have to go back and clear the path again and again. And then there was the issue of dealing with the sheet of ice under the snow that caused me to continuously slip and slide. My neighbor apparently saw me at one of my weaker moments because when I was almost done clearing it and getting ready to deal with the top, he came and offered to take over. I don't think of myself as the Damsel in Distress type, but we all know the snow mixed with salt and sand thrown into the driveway by the passing plows is the worst to have to clear and did you really think I was going to decline him the opportunity to boost his ego help out an aging woman who is clearly out of shape? I'm not too proud to show off my independence and besides, I was practically getting my *ss kicked and I needed to be able to function for the remainder of the day. Disciplining boys with cabin fever is a lot more effective when I'm in the vertical versus horizontal position.

So I was thinking of giving myself a self-rewarding birthday gift by joining a gym again. But I know that now isn't the time because I know I wouldn't get there enough to justify the expense. Besides, I have to upgrade my iPhone because I'm otherwise in a dead zone and I should be able to use the damn thing to make and receive telephone calls in my own house! So, the expense of that requirement was the perfect answer when G asked what I wanted for my birthday. In the meantime, I have to mentally prepare to get physical again. Chasing boys around and hauling stones to build my walls doesn't count.

I think I'll join the gym next year and just try to be more discreet about appearing out of weight when I'm hauling the trash to the top of the driveway. And if spring is really 18 days away, then hopefully I won't have to think about how many more times this winter I will have to clear snow from yet another snowstorm.