My thoughts this morning run a muck with images of my mother and father, as I have been looking through old pictures of them when they were young. My mom was definitely a “looker” and a “sweater girl” back in her day! By looking at the pictures of the other young ladies in her graduating class of 1945, I’m guessing she was probably the catch of the town too!
From reading through some of my dad’s Senior Class Notes, from his class of 1942 and some of the stories that he told me as I was growing up, I think my dad was what I would call a hell-raiser! If you know anything about Indiana basketball and have seen the movie classic “Hoosiers” you know what his team picture looks like. Dad used the old two-handed set shot because the “jump shot” was new at that time and was just starting to evolve.
The point of this blog: I wonder as I wonder…if they had taken just a few more minutes a day, for themselves exercising their bodies, would they still be around to see and play with their great grandchildren?
Both of my parents were part of the Greatest Generation of Americans, as Tom Brokaw has written in his book. I have grown up in small town suburbia my whole life as a part of the Baby Boomer generation. Mom bowled in leagues with her girl friends when she was younger, but when they started having children she quit. Too bad because she was smooth and pretty darn good at it! When I was really little, I do remember mom exercising along with Jack La Lane on the TV in our living room, but that did not last very long. Dad had been a basketball-er during high school but quit after he graduated. He may have played some pick-up games prior to being shipped over seas to fight in the European Theatre during WW II, but he did not play in any leagues after the war.
Like many Greatest Gen-xer’s they moved to Florida to live the “good life” as they moved toward retirement. They moved into a double-wide park first go round and I thought that they might take advantage of all of the activities: swimming pools, biking, tennis, shuffle board and horse shoes. Dad tried a little tennis, but that did not last long. They eventually moved to “The Villages” outside of Orlando and Disney World. I got to see their house once, after Thanksgiving one year, as I flew down for dad’s heart attack / quadruple bi-pass. After successful surgery, they sold their house and came back to the small town in Indiana where I was born.
Don’t get me wrong, both of my parents lived pretty long and good lives. They were lucky that they did not have too many big health issues until the end of their lives…and they passed fairly quickly – as they wanted it – with no long drawn out illness.
But damn…what if…they would have not smoked so much when they were young, eaten smarter, (mom) not taken so many meds; she was starting to get better after I got involved and we started to ween her off of them one at a time. Exactly what “big pharma” had wanted her to do.
Just a little more exercise two to three days per week with the proper vitamins and nutrition…and maybe…just maybe they would still be here or at least would have gotten to see and play with their great grandchildren a little while.
I’ve gotta go work out. My oldest baby is what 36 now and my grandchildren will be graduating from HS before too long; then college and weddings! I want to dance at those weddings! Not only dance, I want to rock it!
