Have you seen my abs?

No, seriously, have you seen my abs?  I haven’t in quite sometime now. If I’m being honest, they may have actually run away.  You see, I’ve never been very nice to them.  Why? It’s simple, they have never really impressed me. I guess I just never felt they went out of their way for me.  When I was 16 I thought they were flabby and lazy.  If I only knew what was to come I might have been much more appreciative and complimentary. 

As a single gal in my 20’s, I was certain that my stomach was my weak link.  After all, why else would all my friends be getting married while I was their bridesmaid? It had to be the abs, right?  So everyday after work, my abs and I teamed up and went to the gym.  Of course I do not really think it was the abs, but one night out I met the guy who became my husband!  So my abs and I got married and spent our honeymoon in a bikini!!!  Looking back now, that was our peak, our shining moment! 

I’m sure what followed is common to many. The 30’s brought pregnancies and children. We spent the first pregnancy making sure we had enough calcium for strong bones, which meant we enjoyed chocolate chip cookies with every glass of milk.  Not our best move. It is possible that my abs felt forgotten, taken advantage of and therefore quite unhappy.  We spent those years caring for the needs of our kids and put ours aside.  At that time in our lives we were hanging by a mommy thread and we were the least of our concerns. 

With the start of the 40’s, we were in sync again!  Our common goal of turning the big 4-0 and looking our best was in full force!  As life often happens, my abs and I started strong and then began to take our relationship for granted and slacked off.  We never went to the gym together, our morning sit up routine became a thing of the past, and we just did not make time together a priority.  We spent our hours driving kids to and from activities, homework and keeping our home in order. It shocked me how reorganizing the spice rack was more important to us than going to the gym.  At the end of our 40’s a young friend made us her New Years Resolution, and would literally pick us up each morning at 5:30 and go to the gym.  I don’t admit this to too many people, but we loved that routine.  That is until she moved away and we went back to our old ways!

With the 50’s here our kids are either in college or on their way. Our mornings are not full of making three meals a day, picking up the house, running errands and food shopping all before the clock strikes 3. We have time now to take care of us. No excuses anymore, no drawers to reorganize.  We have found comfort in starting out the day at the gym. The ironic thing is that now my abs are nowhere to be found.  NOWHERE!  I have been searching in all the obvious places… gym, my exercise clothes, inside my sneakers, even my skinny jeans but no sign of them anywhere.  Someone told me that many abs can be found in Barre Classes, so I attended that too … for over a year now. Everyday that I go I think they will be there waiting for me with open arms. The other day my instructor friend said, “Place your left hand on your abs and smack them, this will engage them.”  With hope I placed my hand on my belly.  NEWS FLASH: They are still missing. 

So if you happen to see my abs wandering the streets, please send them home to me. Let them know that I am determined to find them because I really do miss them very much.

Moral: Taking anything or anyone for granted usually does not end well.

Your friend,

Up, up and away...

Every time I board a plane I kiss my fingers and lay them upon the entrance. It’s sort of like sharing a piece of my heart with the vehicle that will thrust me through the sky to my next destination. As you can tell I am not such a great flyer. I mentally struggle with maintaining my composure while sitting on a very heavy piece of metal tubing hurtling through the air at 500 miles per hour!!! I was not always so fearful, I used to actually love flying. But in my defense I have a pretty darn good reason for this sixteen-ish-year-old fear. 

Once upon a time while attending the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl I was invited to be a guest on a small private jet to the Grand Canyon. It seemed so luxurious and it happened to be my birthday! I accepted and boarded one of the six-seaters with great anticipation. I expected champagne, croissants and great views!!! What I had not expected was the worst turbulence I had ever experienced in my lifetime. Our heads were literally being banged up against the walls. My knuckles were so white from grabbing my friends hand beside me. You could see each of our relieved faces when our descent began until our pilot realized he was landing at the wrong airport! Really???? So up our little plane climbed again, as the clouds and currents played with us like a child with a mobile. 

 That was bad enough, but that was not the worst of it … Upon landing we took a lovely drive along the canyon and ate a delicious lunch at a window table overlooking the Grand Canyon. While eating lunch our jet group decided we would stick together and ride home unified, since we thought how could the flight home possibly be worse?

The return flight was smooth, and we were chatting and laughing as we began our descent until we saw smoke—yeah, you just read that right, SMOKE! The cabin was quickly filling with smoke and the pilot was calling for emergency clearance to land! With it becoming difficult for the pilot to see he opened his door ... Yes, his door!!!! We landed within minutes to a flurry of emergency vehicles! 

Apparently a fuse blew and my friends rain coat caught on fire. They reassured us that we were really never in any danger—of course they probably weren’t counting the possibility of a heart attack.

That night while I was struggling with facing death combined with my gratitude for being safe, a plate of cookies arrived with a note, “Sorry for the bumpy ride!” And that my friends is when this sweet, grateful, kind-hearted girl who loved flying became anything but.  

My other flying habit, the Angel Roll Call, I also credit to this experience. Every single flight upon take off, landing and turbulence of any kind I silently rattle off the names of humans and pets in my lifetime who now reside in heaven. It seems a way for me to focus and think. I believe that when I call their names inside my head they hear me and help keep me safe in the sky. I repeat this ever-growing list until I no longer feel compelled.  

My final habit occurs upon exiting the plane. I make it a point to shout towards the cockpit an honest to goodness “thanks for getting us here safely” cheer because I really do mean it.

And in case you were wondering, each one works and really does make me feel more comfortable and at ease. Just maybe sharing this story with you will help a fellow scaredy cat flyer just like me.

Moral: Life events mold us, might as well embrace them!

your friend,

Finally…my first blog

Ever notice that sometimes life just does not go according to your schedule?  Well, that happens to be the case with this website.  Technology got the best of us.  In my Pollyanna mind this website would be three weeks old by now, which is why talking about my resolutions seemed so timely.  Now that we are finally up and running, 3 weeks later, not so timely.  But still, I felt it was important to share as my first blog.

I hope you will choose to come along on this new journey with me, as I share my random thoughts and I encourage you to please share yours with me.  I don’t know about you, but I am very excited... enjoy the read!

My 2014 Resolution is accomplished...better late than never, right?

As most of you know, of the many things I do, one is being a children’s book author (thus the website and blog).  As part of my “job” I have the honor of traveling around the United States speaking at schools, organizations, businesses and to anyone and everyone else that I meet along the way; airline attendants, taxi cab drivers, school custodians...you get the picture. Some people say I would talk to a tree if it could talk back to me.  For years, some of these people have asked me if I have a blog.  I’ll be honest, (as I always am), I had no idea what they were talking about. I thought it was a sport!!!  I then thought who (yes, even The Who’s down in Whoville) would want to read what I have to say, or even follow my blog?  It surprises me that people are somehow attracted to what is on my mind and in my heart.  As they say somewhere, give the people what they want.  So, I got “schooled in blogging” and here it goes...

It was the end of 2013 and I was struggling with what resolution I could possibly make that I was capable of following through with!  Those pesky promises even from when I was a little girl have always ranged from be nicer to my younger sister, stop biting my nails to the more “mature” ones like: eat less bread, drink 8 glasses of water a day, keep all flat surfaces in my home free from clutter, do 300 sit-ups each morning, be less of a procrastinator, embrace my inner OCD... all of which lasted maybe until well, I forgot to remember!!!  But then I figured it out!! My 2014 resolution would be to rethink my business plan and give it my all, because I love it too dearly to let it go.  So among other things, I would start by redesigning Inch by Inch Publications’ website and incorporate a BLOG!  I thought how hard can this be, after all it’s not a sport!?!?!

Wondering how it worked out for me?  Well, I am sitting here writing to you on my back porch (a sunny 40-degree morning and yes my fingers are very frosty) with my trusty, sweet dog Cornell, and the date is December 20, 2014! Yup, procrastinated all year long, and not while doing sit ups, being kind to myself or drinking water!!!  Yet in my own defense I really did try all year long.  My obstacle was my lack of knowledge of how technology works.  So this is where my younger sister Karen enters the picture, and yes, I am so much nicer to her these days.  Karen has all skills I have not and vice versa. While I baked and crafted she did everything she could to help Inch by Inch inch along. Who knew my resolution would become hers? With her determination, she hired a past coworker of hers, the talented and always patient Regina Ranonis Tucker, who also happens to have the same resolution as me, imagine that? The website was not redesigned a little bit, it has been utterly and completely transformed. Somehow Regina understood all my sayings and managed to design my new website!!! I hope you like it as much as I do and want to share it and my blog with your friends and family.  All you have to do is click the share button below, no exercise involved!

Just as Aesop’s Fables has a moral at the end of each fable, so shall I.

Moral: Do not be afraid to ask and enlist the help of those that can do what you can not!  

your friend,