I don't know if anyone else can categorically report that they can remember exactly what they ate every week night for their entire schooling experience (less the one term of boarding when our parents deserted us to travel abroad) but all of my closest school friends and my siblings can attest to such a fact.
Mum had a system and with seven of us in the family and all with various before and after school commitments it meant that the kitchen fare was designed around a roster akin to an army barrack.
Now don't get me wrong, I am one of the few people I know that had a hot breakfast every morning of my childhood. Great friends like Janet C and Libby J would ask to be included in the Sunday morning waffles and ice-cream or pancakes that would fill happy tummy's and start the Sabbath off "just right".
Each week night we had the same thing - i.e. Monday for 8 years we had steak and mashed potatoes with peas, Thursday night for 8 years we sat to a plate of steak and mashed potatoes with beans, and Tuesday night we were delighted with steak and chips. Now the blessed night of the week was Wednesday when we would sit down as a family to a hearty lamb roast that was so sweet and juicy plated up with vegetables that had been baked so long in the juices of the pan that they had softened, browned and caramelized into something that "Master Chef" gormonds would have yearned for! All this and the jam tart from the bakery near "Siriannis" served hot with an extra creamy ice-cream that was so frozen that it both melted into the pastry and tangy jam tart yet kept cold enough to send shock-waves through our baby teeth.
Tonight was a night that tugged on my heart strings, and at my deeper Limbic memory system eliciting memories of days of yore. My sister, brother, Mum and Dad along with my eldest son Alex sat around the table discussing the pro's and con's of today, my father stopped and asked if "as parents they had been good enough" "was I there enough for you" he asked. At the age of 86 (pushing 87) I expect he is reflectively regarding his own carbon footprint. The way I see it, as parents greatest our greatest asset is our children, and he was measuring up if we were proud of him.
My Mum was explaining to Alex all the wondrous things that they had done through there younger days, some things that she remembered of us kids at a younger age and recounted these vividly to my 26 year old, and a few horrific memories regarding me personally that she needed to share as a way of her own proud parenting.
It was a night that I don't think that I will forget, I night where we were collectively back in "Eltham" our family home, re-living past achievements and challenges. Flip, Bill and I were all absorbing the night in our own way (as family members' are apt to do), all I know is that when asked by my wonderful father if he was strict enough or not strict enough, I looked into his apprehensive gaze with amazement. He and my mother could not have given me a better childhood; were they strict - bloody oath, were they too lenient - well just enough to let us see that they were human. Would I change them for another set - not on "your Nelly". I love them as they are and would not have changed a minute of my life, this is why I am and who I am today!!!
It has been one week since I walked into that warehouse down the road and saw fifty or so fit athletic happy people working out HARD! I decided to try it out and went down Monday night to see what this cross fit is all about. I have looked at some pretty amazing people who have so much strength and power and are tiny pocket rockets. They all have one thing in common, a friendly welcoming disposition that is quite infectious. It took me about 15 minutes to feel at home and to ask for advice if I needed, and by the end of the session I had been invited to the weekend BBQ get together if I was around. Not a common feature in many health clubs I have to say.
Gotta tell you after that first night and that first hour I walked out again sweaty, exhausted but feeling a sense of inner strength that I didn't think I had. Firstly it is very, VERY professional; I was introduced to one of the owners who was running that nights class and he took me aside and spent 30 minutes instructing me on how to squat, how to swing a kettle bell, how to do modified burpies and then added me to the major cardio component of the class so that I could get a workout; and that I most CERTAINLY did.
I have been back twice more since then and each time felt secure in the safety of my body and yet got workouts that challenged me all the way to the end. At the beginning of each class there is a strength component that you take on at a sensible pace so that you can really load up the equipment to build strength without the fear of injury. After that you do what they call the WOD (workout of the day) a 3 element cardio section that either goes for a time period of say 12 - 18 minutes or you have to complete specific drills and when you finish you call out STOP! Everyone's efforts are recorded on a white board and at the end of the day a photo is taking of this board and the results and loaded up onto the website. You can track your fitness levels at home and see how you are progressing.
Remember skipping folks? Yes this was day two and doing 100 at a time between a squat series and modified chin ups was a real heart starter... As for last nights box jumps, free floating abdominal crunches and overhead presses - well what can I say. This girl is going for broke and not stopping till all goals are met and all parties are danced at. Why don't you join me down at Burdett Street Albion in one of the sessions, they are on at 5 and 6 am, midday and 5:15 and 6:15 each weekend day and 7 and 8 am on Saturdays. I'll watch out for you and help you in your journey too.
Now that I am doing half as much as I did, I find I am trying to fit in twice as much as I couldn't. Well grammatically that would have sent my English teacher spinning in her grave, but you all get the gist of what I mean.
Instead of being the mother to an eclectic bunch of students I am now awash with space and time for myself. Needing to make up for the last 6 years of laziness I want to throw myself into whatever opportunity knocks and I hope that I don't use it wisely, instead go on GUT FEELINGS that might be good for my body, mind and soul.
Did you know that there are an amazing array of fitness opportunities out there for those who do not wish to sleep longer than 6 1/2 hours (God knows why anyone needs more than that anyway!) AND I plan to source out them all.
Currently I have been using the well worn 7 kilometer hill trek invented by the most "bodacious" Foxy Oxies on their sojourn to fitness and fund raising for Oxfam. Now this loop takes between 45 - 75 minutes depending on how hard you "go at it" and I am almost certain that the home-owners would prefer that they had never purchased these magnificent homes overlooking the Brisbane river, or that they had set up treacherous mine fields to keep us all out or remove us in some beastly, well thought out violent feat! They wake most mornings to the sound of gaggles of women excited to be alive and well and devouring what the world has to offer for the day. And I am proud to be one of them!!
I am off and attacking that mountainous circuit twice a week and feeling the benefits of it on my cardiovascular system and on how freaking great I feel when I get home.
Thing is - when I was out there THIS Saturday morning there was a lot of "hooting" "howling" and "go on - you can do its" coming from an industrial shed not 50 meters from home. I stuck my head in to see about 50 fit, active and sweaty people laughing and encouraging some poor souls whilst they were pushing through the pain of "the 100 burpy set". Punishment for showing up late I was told (mental note to self!!!).
Tomorrow night sees me marching down there and seeing what Crossfit lift is all about and diving into it with both feet. Trust me you will be the first to know.....
So in comes 2013 and I sit back now only weeks since selling my family home and moving to a "rental" and it finally has dawned on me that I am on a sea-change towards a totally different lifestyle...
I can only remember waking to a home filled with International students' all vying for the use of the toaster, juggling glasses of juice or heating milk to be mixed with chocolate powder and then dipped with Nutella laidened bread, all using their English skills as best they could.
Now when I wake I go for a walk around the hilly streets of Albion and Hamilton reflecting on what the day will bring, my days client work-load, what I will feed my growing 15 year old for our evening meal. At the end of the day I finish up my clinic, write up my notes for the day and walk down the hall to pour a glass of wine or perhaps a gin and tonic and sit on the porch watching the lights of the city start to twinkle as the evening draws nigh, and why I am NOT stressed!
Don't get me wrong, I simply loved the interaction with my students' and learning daily about the lifestyles and cultures of the many Nationalities that lived under my roof. It is just that I am trying to understand where my journey is taking me. It is remarkable how I can be sitting here now not having to get up to answer questions about train travel, go downstairs to retrieve another loaf of bread or fresh milk, explain again the use of the washing machine. Sitting at night watching a DVD and chatting to Harry is a foreign to me and the many sons and daughters that have crossed the mantel of my house from so many cities.
It is time for me to become more reflective and maybe anyone out there who actually reads my blog posts will follow me on this new journey.
