A Single Mom Working Full Time

Choose Well has reinforced my life's choices towards aging well. I started lifting weights in the early 1980's, when a muscled woman was more 'freak' than 'fit'. My well-meaning mother would say, "Honey, it's just not very feminine looking." I found that I was grounded, calmer, and in a better mood on days I worked out. In fact, if I went more than 2 days without working out, my sons would chide me, "Someone needs to walk Mom". Those days held no margins as a single mom working full time and charging towards and through nursing school. I cleaned houses to pay the bills and quickly adapted a "working workout" on days with no gym sanctioned time: bilateral window washing (delts/chest); shower stall wall scrubbing squats; bathtub core-building clean; vacuum leg extensions, etc. I successfully dropped some bad habits I'd picked up in my teens, and cultivated spirituality. Today I am a grandmother of 6 and my #strongramma moniker is true to form. An aging body requests adaptations and I've listened. I see the young Cross Fitters of today and am so glad they have a team and a place of acceptance. Recently I hula hooped with my 50 lb. laughing granddaughter riding on my shoulders. We play for hours, and go find the grownups when we get hungry. Oh, and my resting heart rate is 48, my weight is the same as it was in the 80's, total cholesterol about 160 with a high HDL. I'll be 57 years old next week and will celebrate 30 years recovery next month. The small, consistent changes, over time, may change my level of inherited health risks: heart attack and strokes.Yes, I eat the frosting, not the cake, and cannot be left alone with fresh cinnamon rolls. I know how I am, and if this is as good as it gets, lucky me! Choose Well has validated and extrapolated, in a structured format, my life well lived.