Senior Golden Sneakers - February 2011

tlp8rb

Today is an anniversary day. Not all anniversaries are meant to be celebrated.

I have a "lucky" Green Bay Packer shirt and it comes with quite a story. I'd like to share it with all of you.

Our oldest son's wife, Lori, was an avid Packer fan. She would always decorate the house in green and gold when the Packers were playing. Game day was a really big deal. She was just crazy about Brett Farve and when he "deserted" the Pack (her words) he broke her heart. She had a symbolic burning ceremony and Brett's number four jersey went up in flames in their fireplace. With her "hero" gone she decided she needed to pick another player to honor and settled on Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, and on a trip to Green Bay picked up a short sleeved jersey with his name across the shoulders.

In November, 2009, Lori who had been battling Multiple Sclerosis for ten years, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. She was 48 years old, the mother of an 11-year old girl, our granddaughter, Savannah. Despite doing everything possible, she quickly went down hill and in mid-January, 2010, I flew to Milwaukee, then drove to Stockbridge (north of Fond du Lac) to spend two weeks with the family. The first week was wonderful. She got a head of steam fueled by my visit and we did many fun "girl" things together like shopping, watching the soaps, reading trashy supermarket magazines and talking. The Sunday in the middle of my two week visit was game day, but this time the Vikings were playing for a birth in the championships. The Packers were out of contention by then. I came out of my room dressed in a purple leisure outfit. She was on the couch with her Packer jersey on. "You're not going to wear that are you?" she asked. "Purple is Viking's color. We don't want the Vikings to win!" I changed my clothes. It was a good game, the Viking DID loose and by Sunday night Lori was exhausted. It was the last "good" day she had. The following week was a nightmare. Her disease had spread to her brain and she was often confused, stubborn, and antagonistic. When we said good bye on Saturday, we both knew we'd never see each other again. On February 4, 2010, she died. That's exactly one year ago today and one of the reasons she is so on my mind.

My husband and I drove back to Wisconsin for her memorial services and the morning we were packed and ready to head home, my son came out of their room with something in a plastic bag. "Mom," he said, "Lori would want you to have this." In the bag was the Gbaja-Biamila jersey.

I wore it to watch the play off game, and the Pack beat New Orleans. I wore it to watch the Championship game and they beat the Bears. You can be sure I'll be wearing it tomorrow. Lori would be ecstatic.

californiagramma

:flowerforyou: i now know who I will be cheering for, go Packers,I am a Patriots fan but your story makes me want the packers to go all the way.

LUV2CRUZ

Connie, you are a beautiful soul.....That was both heartwarming and sad.......I'm sure she is missed very much.

pjsatticPhoebeWaleskaGA

You got me with that story,Connie. Thank you for sharing with us. Go Packers!
many good posts today. Be safe and warm.

elli

Elli What a wonderful writer you are , you have a way of making everybody feels special I wish I had your gift. of writing. Bless you Grandma. Have a great time with your kids little and big.


oh my Marine - that's one of the best compliments I've ever been paid. Thank you so much!
We're all waiting on pins and needles to hear Jerry's results - they HAVE to be good with all of us pulling for him right!?!?!?!?

Connie - thank you for sharing the story of your dil - it's a tearjerker. I hope your son and your granddaughter are healing.

Sandy - you did great with your extra exercise! I didn't end up doing so great at lunch - we ended up down in Denver at Maggianos, a really good Italian restaurant and i ordered and ate more almost 3/4 of the eggplant parmesean. Oh well - i enjoyed my niece and her husband and after this i'll be off to the gym.

I KNOW i had more to say:grumble: I'm going back and look at the posts

elli

Irene - i love the story of your little granddaughter buttering the bread and what a revelation that was for her! I always tell "my" babies someday we're going to bake and cook and garden together.

Hi Buzz - yes, i joined in Feb 2009 - almost 2 years ago and i'm STILL struggling with these silly 3 or 4 pounds!:huh: Before i came back this time i had actually gained to almost 130 so that was kind of scary! I bought a new business back in May and got so busy - i think between now and then was when i gained all the weight too. Anyway - the new business is still a huge challange but i'm really trying to stick with you guys!

Sandy, Barb, Barbie, other computer savvy folks among us - how do i get to just have one little paragraph from someone elses post in a quote box? I know, it's amazing i can manage to run businesses isn't it?:embarassed:

Marie - i also noticed i called u Marine in my last post - i must be in a hurry to get to the gym and work off this eggplant!:laugh:

Love u guys - keep on having a good weekend!

l, e

Sandydur

You put me in tears Connie and I offer my most heart filled love for you and your family today.

I would have known the Bear's didn't stand a chance if I heard that story before their game and I think in my heart somewhere I would have been cheering for the Packers just for your daughter in law. Thank you for sharing a very personal heartbreak. :brokenheart:

On the bright side, your grand daughter and your son seem to be doing well and I am sure they will be cheering for the Packers!!!


God Bless

marlouise

Hello everyone, thank you for the welcome back! So ends a 52 hour week, a good night sleep is in order to start a 42 hour week.
Got in a workout today, starting to challenge myself to add weights or do more sets to get the body a better workout, some weights increase in 5 pound amounts, which is a bit of a jump depending on the exercise. I am going to have to spend a bit of time in the gym and fiqure out some ways to meet the next level of weight I will need. I have a choice of buying a 25 pound set of dumbells or I can make the weights by the discs, and bars. So I'll need a list of weights I do need to buy, because I need them in different set ups for example 25 (2x10 +1x5) on the bar, and 2-25's for the hand bars for arm curls.

Also did some time on the treadmill too, this is great when it is cold outside and little time to spend walking.

Anyhoo, :yawn: time to call it a night, God bless everyone.

Marilyn

CALIECAT

Connie:flowerforyou: i will be pulling for the packers for Lori your son and her daughter. and for all of your family. Very touching storie Thanks for sharing,.

My grandson is all deck out in Packers costum. to wear to the game. So is his wife and little dogggie. I tried to share a photo that his daughter posted on FB but so far I have not seen it. Love Marie

CALIECAT

Marilyn, with all the hours you work you still find time to exercise Good Job.

viliberty1957

Connie, I just had to get back on here and say what a touching story. Thank you for sharing it with us.

CALIECAT

:flowerforyou: i now know who I will be cheering for, go Packers,I am a Patriots fan but your story makes me want the packers to go all the way.

I think you need a nickname. for California ....................is just way to long for me.Also we need for you to give Sandy your bithday so she can put it on our bithday list. Want to welcome you to our group. Waiting to hear all about you.I see you have a little dog. What is his name.?

Sandydur

[/quote]
I think you need a nickname. for California ....................is just way to long for me.Also we need for you to give Sandy your bithday so she can put it on our bithday list. Want to welcome you to our group. Waiting to hear all about you.I see you have a little dog. What is his name.?
[/quote]


Marie, CaliforniaGramma's name is June...................if that is too hard to remember you can call her Cali, if she approves.


Marilyn, I am exhausted just reading your post. All those weights, you must be working so hard, great job!!!!

weaklink109

Hello All,

Connie, I am sorry this is such a sad anniversary.:flowerforyou: Wear your jersey proudly and thank you for sharing your story. I was sort of non-committal about Packers or Steelers, but your story has tipped the scales in favor of the Packers. Besides, their colors are the same as the Oregon Ducks, so I guess I SHOULD be rooting for them:laugh:

I can't reply to everyone, just too tired to go back and review what I just read.

To Elli--

..
Sandy, Barb, Barbie, other computer savvy folks among us - how do i get to just have one little paragraph from someone elses post in a quote box? I know, it's amazing i can manage to run businesses isn't it?:embarassed:
...

To answer your question, the way I do it is to do the quote process as usual, so that the beginning and ending quote coding appears. Then I delete the parts that I don't want to include. When you are ready to type your own text, be sure you start UNDER the last quote code entry or your comment will be highlighted and look like part of the quote.

Hope that helps.

BFN

Barb

Lafla

Hi everyone. My apologies for not being a very good poster the last while. I have no excuses just not being a good person!!! I can't remember if I posted after my WW meeting. I lost 4 pounds for which I was exceedingly grateful! Today hasn't been my best day but not terrible. I do feel that evil pull to get into things I shouldn't after having ice cream this afternoon. Strange to eat ice cream in this weather but the boys were working hard taking off the old flooring so it seemed a good thing to do. I was busy packing stuff away and cooking so guess I earned an activity point (or a half). Tonight I have been telling myself I am done with that. I have learned that treats, even allowed, are not good for me yet. I hope to be able to handle them one day. Neil's new shoes look great but his ankle hurt a bit tonight. He did a lot of standing watching the activity. They have the old flooring off the hallways from front to back door (kind of a u shape). What a lot of work, it was glued down solid. They had to take the top layer of particle board off as a stronger board has to go on to support the tile. I wish I could go on another holiday while they do the work. Dave gets a little grouchy under pressure (revised -- a lot grouchy).

Sorry that Viki did not find what she was looking for here. I think everyone tried very hard to make new people feel welcome, not sure what happened with her announcement not being ackowledged. It must have been a day where few people popped in. That being said, I didn't think the comment about the 'creepy guy' wanting to be her friend was very nice. There are no creepy guys on this thread. That is all I shall say about that.

Connie -- Your story touched me. It as so sad and precious. I am so glad you shared it with us. You obviously had a wonderful and close relationship with your daughter in law.

Buzz -- Glad the eyes are so much better!!

Welcome to X, I hope you like it here. We look forward to getting to know you.

Take care everyone and keep smiling. Gayla

pjsatticPhoebeWaleskaGA

Ms Gayla, you are not a bad person, you never could be! You would have to hire someone to teach you that. You are an amazing human being, and I believe you are Neil's salvation, he's doing so good because of you.
Congrats for four pounds down! What is the points plus system? How does it differ from plain ol points?
lol@ A Lot Grouchy! Men!
Sandy, basically, my blood sugar dropped. Its under control and I'm. Fine.
Marilyn, are you superwoman? Lol! I dont know if I could lift the weights that you mentioned, at least n if I did, I know I wouldn't be able to sleep, my arms would be cramping. Im a wimp!
irene, loved your grandmother stories, tell more!
See, I cant remember all the posts either, so many good ones, but I read all of them, and enjoy hearing from you all!
be safe and super cautious!

CALIECAT

Happy Superbowl Day. Our local Tv station are all round up. Tailgating is going strong. Cooking them Hambugers and what have you.
So good to read so many post yesterday Just prove we stick together. thru thick and thin.

Good morning Sandy, Barbiecat, Phoebe, Galya , Maddie, Irene, Jo An, Gigi, Jeffrey Jake, Buzz Elli, Lynn,Birdie, Barbs,Marilyn, Beth,, Pam [ looking for you to show up again.], Xyla, , June Hope I didn't leave anyone out. Seems like I remm some on from Australia But can't remember who?

elli

Ms Gayla, you are not a bad person, you never could be! You would have to hire someone to teach you that. You are an amazing human being, and I believe you are Neil's salvation, he's doing so good because of you.
Congrats for four pounds down!

ok Barb - I'm trying it - don't know if i have it right yet.

Marilyn - I also second what Phoebe and Sandy said - i get worn out just reading about your workouts! I need to go back and read your profile again - i'm wondering if you're an athlete, p.e. teacher............

I've been hovering between 118 and 119 now for about 10 days - and doing ALMOST everything right. it's frustrating! I know my advice to others is always don't give up - just keep doing what you know to be the right things.........i may need to change something up - i think i'll start adding some weights to my mostly cardio workouts.

Gayla! i know i quoted it up top but AWESOME! 4 pounds is HUGE! I know what you mean about once you start eating the sugary yummy stuff it can be hard to rein yourself in. You can do it!!!!!!

Happy Super Bowl day everyone. i'm not a big football fan - i think i'm kind of in the minority here. I hope everyone has a fabulous day - i'm taking food over to my kids with the 3 week old!:bigsmile: I have it figured out - as long as i keep bringing them homemade food (cinnemon rolls, chile con queso and chicken enchiladas today) they don't mind me coming over ALL the time to see Kodi!:happy:

elli

elli

lol - nope - i'm a dork. i still don't have the quote thing!:embarassed:

bushman124

22 years ago today I was blessed with a beautiful 5 lb 11 oz baby girl. If any of you are counting, yes, I was 42 when I had her! Melissa is her name and she is turning into a beautiful young woman. She kind of messed up last semester at Ball State University but now is waitressing and earning money to go back and finish her teaching and psycology degrees in August. My heart always fills with memories when my children have their birthdays.

Connie, what a beautiful story and tribute to your daughter in law. I think you made a very good mother in law!

It's snowing here again in Elkhart, Indiana, great big snow flakes. It sure is beautiful! Have a great superbowl Sunday everyone and God Bless.