Tabatha Deans

A NEW DAY A NEW LIFE
Today is the beginning of the rest of my life…I know it’s a little cliché, okay a big cliché, but today really is the day to do something. I’ve been in a rut since I returned from Mexico, but thanks to Mr. and Mrs. G and my other friends, today I’m starting the Body for Life program. It promises a complete transformation in 90 days, not only physically but mentally. The G family introduced me to the program, which involves exercise and dietary changes, which I’m pretty good at anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to be more precise about my diet and it certainly doesn’t hurt to beat off the cellulite with some weight training. As a group we’ve all decided that we need to make some changes; we all have relatively good lives, but have been coasting on our good fortune for too long. So we are all going to change that. In addition to the program, I’m serious about quitting smoking as well. Cigarettes are $6 a pack here, which is twice as much as in Mexico. Plus Mexico was a vacation mentality, and I can no longer pretend I’m on vacation and my actions don’t matter.

Procrastination has always been my downfall, as is with many people, but especially so for writers. After analyzing our lives and the changes we want to make we wholeheartedly decided the only thing holding us back was our own laziness. Its not new information to me, but verbalizing it and having others agree makes it a little painful.

THE TIDE TURNS
I set out to catch the bus to the trax station, but apparently Salt Lake has decided that public transit is not a priority, they’ve cut many of the bus line routes. I used to catch the bus that came along every half hour, now every bus I wait for isn’t scheduled to come along but every two hours. I’m going through withdrawals from riding the bus, I love nothing more than clanking along in the summer heat while sitting in an air conditioned bus and watching people. But apparently I’m destined to chase my future on foot or bumming rides.

The good news is that I’m giddy with optimism about my future today, having shaken off the tentacles of doubt that have been plaguing me. There are a lot of writing jobs out there, all freelance and none that pay really well, but many that will give me the opportunity to get my name in print on a national level. Now that I’ve adjusted to being back in the city, I realize that although it’s nothing exotic like Mexico was, there are still plenty of adventures waiting for me. My attitude and the tide of my life changed yesterday. Two of my little friends, Little Z and Little A returned to school after their summer break, both of them began the third grade. I went with Mrs. G to pick Little Z up from school, and we loitered about the playground with the other moms waiting for the bell to ring releasing the children. Unsure how a third grader would act upon racing out of the school and running into his mother, I wasn’t sure of his reaction. But he raced into his mother’s arms and had such a big grin on his face that it was obvious he wasn’t too old to be picked up. He bubbled with unbridled enthusiasm all the way home, telling us about his teacher, who is one of the nicest and prettiest at the school. As soon as we got home he took to his room to do his 20 minutes of reading, adamant about doing his homework. The slight chill and the smell of the fresh morning air reminded me of every first day of school I ever had, and every first day of school Jess ever had. The dark cloud of doom that had been hovering above me was magically washed away by the season and the children’s excitement.

Little A came home and excitedly went to work on her own homework, after declaring she too had gotten into the class of the nicest teacher in her school. Her assignment was to fill out a poster she brought home, which was in the format of a newspaper. She was given the task of filling out the page with information all about her, including her favorite movie in the form of a movie review, her favorite activities, and significant happenings in her life. She sweetly announced that she was going to put Baby G’s birth and upcoming first birthday as the most important thing that has happened in her life lately. She told the story on the page like only a child can do, including the part about how her mom “went on a diet and somehow that made her get pregnant.” Notoriously Mrs. S only gets pregnant when she’s training for a marathon, but apparently everyone in Little A’s class will be informed that going on a diet causes pregnancy. We laughed at Little A’s work, which she had carefully written in her very best handwriting in pencil, then tediously wrote over in ink. Out of the mouth of babes…

August 24, 2010 - Posted by Tabatha Stewart | Uncategorized