Snacking on Elephants

  As I sit here listening to Dire Straits looking out at my patio, wearing my favorite Hawaii sweatshirt, I am distracted by the chair that my father occupied in June. He had flown to New York for my son’s high school graduation, and during his time here enjoyed sitting on my brick patio shaded by all of the trees in my wooded back yard.  "It's so peaceful back here." He would comment, as we talked for hours about life, family, work and children.  He would, as he always did, impart his 91 year old wisdom and serve as my ever present nonjudgemental sounding board.  That chair now sits empty, still covered in residual leaves from this fall, a constant reminder that my father is no longer here. Here come Johnny, gonna tell you a story Hand me now my walkin' shoes Here come Johnny with the power and the glory Backbeat, the talkin' blues To be honest, there was another time I wore this very sweatshirt. It was October 2, 2023.  This is a day I don’t think I’ll ever fo...

Last night I found myself sitting in my car outside a sports facility where my son had football practice a half hour from home, wondering what the hell just happened.  In the 11 days leading in, I had been on two transcontinental flights, worked 6 ten hour days on the other coast, a ten and a five hour day on this coast, spent half the day at a cheer competition, and right there in my car was settled in for an evening of football.  In between things, there were loads of laundry, dishes, packing and repacking, kid obligations, taxes, bills and a seemingly endless "To Do List."  In that moment, as I stared out into the rainy night with the street lights illuminating the raindrops on my windshield, it felt a bit like waking up from a chaotic tidal wave of busy.   Three little birds sat on my window, And they told me I don't need to worry As Corinne Bailey Rae played in the car, I reflected over the last 11 days and I somehow thought those three little birds were in...

Well, it finally happened.  Fifteen months on the road, the last 7 of which have been on the opposite coast, and I had hands down, the worst days of travel in my entire life.  On Tuesday morning I was to catch a plane in Reno at 10:40.  I awoke to a message we would leave at 11:15, from there it was a series of 15 minute delays, pushing the flight further and further back like some sort of Chinese water torture.  At first, I really didn't mind.  I was to have a four hour layover in Dallas anyway, so doing that delay from my hotel room in Reno meant less time in Dallas, or so I thought.  Well, let's just say by the time the airline was done delaying flight one, my whole layover in Dallas had evaporated and I was down to a whopping 14 minutes.  Looking for guidance, I made the mistake of asking the gate agent what to do.  Was I going to make it?  Without even checking or offering alternatives, I got a simple,"You can try."  Well, there was...

 You may be asking yourself where I have been with a little gap in posting.  Well....it happened.  I rang in 2024 with two significant events.  First, this is the first year I dove into without my parents as my mom died some years back, and my father tragically passed of COVID in October.  All I have remaining for parental guidance is a kind and loving stepmom who, two months after the death of my father, was diagnosed with breast cancer.  As if that were not enough, I spent my New Years shivering and coughing, barely able to move, sick with a third round of COVID.  With that, it brought back all of the side effects of my two previous infections, higher blood pressure, racing heart and even a round of shingles.  To be honest, it felt a bit like that elephant in the room, as I refer to my journey to good health, no longer had the small bites I had taken out of it in the months leading in, rather it had actually grown in size become quite ferocious ...

  The other day I found myself in the middle of a steep hill climb on the Peloton.  We were instructed to "build our road" meaning add as much or as little resistance to fit where you were in that moment.  The instructor used the time to draw a parallel between this literal road to her personal road in life and described said personal road as "sparkly".  This got me thinking about my own personal road and what that might look like.  Oh, pre-COVID I had that road figured out.  Upward trajectory at work, growing business, the height of fitness, kicking ass on the Spartan course....  Oh yes, I had it all figured out, and no, my road was not "sparkly"  it was more a sleek black fast track road to the top.  Then COVID hit like a cyclone, the world shut down, healthcare changed forever with burn out rates at an all time high, myself included.  I developed life long issues as a result of my own battle with COVID, and my business was placed on p...

 I now have been traveling for work full time for 13 months.  I would say from a wellness perspective it has been tough to navigate to say the very least.  Now, I know what you are thinking...is this where the previously crowned Mama Shark admits she hasn't worked out in 13 months and has lived on a steady diet of fatty takeout and now has fallen off the horse completely, setting the stage for a glorious story of redemption? Actually, no.  None of that is true.  I have stayed on the horse, maybe sitting a little side saddle, but still on the horse.  Since developing gluten allergy and having to go gluten free months ago, fatty takeout most assuredly will make me sick.  Instead, I have opted for hotels with kitchens to keep my diet on point.  No, this little elephant snack is more a story of consistency and balance.  When I went back to review my workouts over the last year, there is never a week there is less than three, and in some weeks as ...