I've walked four miles today and it's just the beginning of many more to come.
I'm excited about my four beautiful kids starting school yesterday after a hectic summer filled with them, their friends and yes, our two wonderful dogs. Time for a little peace and quiet so I can get back to the bliss of days filled with uninterupted writing, just like last year. Wake up the kids, see them out the door, clean the house, sit down with a cup of coffee and write for hours on end. Simple right? At least that was the plan up until a week ago when I recieved a lovely notice from my childern's school announcing that this year there will be no buses to pick my kids up because we live too close to the school. Crap. According to the lovely officials of my local school district, if you live a 1.5 from the school, will be walking. We live 1.4 miles......
So....I have begun lacing up my tennis shoes and walking my younglings to school and walking back to meet them in the afternoon. Two miles in the morning and two miles in the evening. At this rate I think I'll be able to put on a bikini by Christmas.
I have to admit, at first I was mad at the thought of walking the kids to school, I mean hey, it's hot outside! But as I thought about it, what else have my kids been doing all summer? Sitting down, eating junk food, playing video games and every now and again they actually went out side. My neighbors on the other hand have been upset about what's going on and very vocal about the need for a bus. But I think about it again and say to myself, "But didn't you send your kids up and down the street everyday to go play with the other kids? Were those your kids walking through the subdivision to the gas station that's right down the street from the school?"
Hmmmmm.....
I feel for those parents who were relying on the bus to pick up their kids because they've got to run out the door every morning and leave their kids behind, trusting that they can get on the bus. Thank god I'm not one of them. It's also messed up that when I walked today, I saw groups of middle school aged guys walking in groups while mothers, like myself, walked our daughters to school just to be sure they got their safely.
I can't lie, I'm not looking forward to rainy days and freezing weather, but I guess it's time to toughen up the kids and ourselves and stop being so spoiled. We live in a time when we don't send our kids outside to get the exercise they need. Heck we as grown folks don't always get the exercise we need either (I'm talking mainly about my self here!) So, I guess we'll have to make it work. Maybe by the end of the year we'll all be physically fit and have a better health report when we see our doctors.
But either way, I'm wearing a bikini next summer!
