Category: Parenting/Running/Pets

Posted in Family, Faith and Fitness, Parenting/Running/Pets

Get Moving Seniors! Part 1

Posted on by Lucretia Cahill

Up and down streets in our suburban world “Over 55” neighborhoods are sprouting as prevalently as the showy Crepe Myrtles lining the streets. “Senior Living!” signs are displayed touting the joy you can have in a neighborhood where the couple next door to you are no strangers to clothes lines, Jello molds and Buddy Holly…back in the day. But are you really a Senior if you’re only 55? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Age 65 is still the standard senior-citizen threshold for Medicare, but the tipping-point age elsewhere can vary from 38 to 80. Nonetheless, no matter the age or where you live, all Senior Citizens need to take the time to take care of themselves and get moving!

Here are four ways to get started:

  1. For endurance, take a brisk walk or jog around the block or at a local track.
  2. For strength, lift weights or use resistance band exercises to build muscle.
  3. For balance, sign up for a local yoga or pilates class. Good balance prevents falls.
  4. For flexibility, stretch your muscles throughout the day

Tomorrow, my dear parents will be married for 58 years and are perfect examples of Senior Citizens who take care of themselves, and each other. Of course they appreciate the senior discounts on Wednesdays at the grocery stores and Goodwill and indulge in a good early bird special – as long as there’s gluten-free menu for mom.  They are also excellent at keeping themselves busy. Dad’s worked numerous jobs, retired about three times, and is still working at 82. Mom worked in my high school for years, is a master seamstress, and can make anything grow in her garden even with the mere 12 drops of rain New Mexico receives per month. Mom and Dad putz around the yard, make crazy U-turns for garage sales and wash, mend, rebuild, and upholster their treasures for resale.

In my next post, I’ll fill you in on one of my parent’s secret to keep their bodies moving. It involves a big tree, a shovel, and a lot of dirt.

Stay tuned.

Dig Deep: If you have a way to calculate your steps, up your goal by 1,000 steps today. Take the stairs when they are available and go an extra flight up to help reach your daily goal.

Back Pocket Prayer, in honor of Earth Day:

O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals [and all creatures] to whom you gave the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of humans with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to you in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that all creatures live not for us alone but for themselves and for you, and that they love the sweetness of life. Amen. © 2018 Catholic Health Association of the United States

– Words from BASIL THE GREAT

Posted in Family, Faith and Fitness, Parenting/Running/Pets, siblings

Take care of each other

Posted on by Lucretia Cahill

HAPPY EASTER! We made it. 40 days of sacrifice, humility, fasting, almsgiving, and because it’s 2018, blogging. Many thanks for reading. Stay tuned for my weekly posts starting next Sunday. IT’S JUST THE BEGINNING. Please subscribe.

40 Reflections #40: 40 days of raw recollections during the Lenten Season

TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER

Our children are very close in age. When they were little, if one cried, I’d ask the other two to check on them, assuming they were not the cause of the bawling. “Always check on your brother or sister” I would tell them, “we have to take care of each other.” The same would happen on playgrounds, the backyard, or friend’s homes. When crying started, it was my cue to say, “Go check on them” and off they’d go. Please know, blood and bumps were always tended to, and I did not just sit on the sidelines watching my kids raise one another, my goal was to make sure they had each other’s backs. Forever.

As the kids grow up, they play, squabble, tolerate individual traits, and mostly really like and even love each other. In the last few years, there were a few experiences demonstrating the kids quick response to their siblings, and even my needs.

BMX Mom: A few years back, during one of our school breaks, we continued our “Staycation” tradition. A fancy word for stay home, find our own fun, and save money. Towards that end, I had each of our children pick something to do each day. We would all participate with little complaining, and it WOULD be fun. So on BMX day, we packed our two bikes, my daughter threw in her book, and we headed to the park. We had the whole place to ourselves. I assumed the staycationer’s hadn’t discovered this little gem. So as my boys flew up and down the hills, I sat with my daughter and we read. Finally, seeing how much fun the boys were having, I had one of those “it looks so easy, I can TOTALLY do it” moments God should really delete from our brains before they happen, and asked my eldest son if I could use his bike and go around the loop. “Sure, just use my helmet too” was his response. So I passed my phone to my daughter, and asked her to snap a few pictures of my attempt at being a cool mom. I strapped in, started down the first hill and as I climbed up the next bump, sure I had enough speed to reach the top, I completely fell backwards. The bike landed on top of me with a bit of metal digging into the back of my knee. Immediately my son dashed over, lifted the bike off of me, ran to the car for the First Aid Kit, and began picking out bandages. Meanwhile, my youngest kept zooming around the track as if in a race, and my daughter filmed my entire fall and rescue.

“Take care of each other” BOTTOM LINE: one of us was in need and help was there without panic, just response. Plus, if we need evidence of the fall, it’s all on video :). Four stitches later at the Urgent Care, I was all patched up and ready for the next, less adventurous trip to Barnes and Noble.

FIGHT CLUB: For years, we were the parents who never let our kids go down the block to the park alone, then one day, my husband and I told the kids “come home in 15 minutes.” They looked at us like we were bluffing and as we kept walking, one of their friends asked, “Where are they going? They’re really leaving?” After that day, as long as the boys had their watches on and knew when to come home, they could play for a stint at the park without us. One day the boys came home upset, apparently one of them got into a fight and they were agitated. After talking through it, they calmed down, and moved on. Meanwhile, our daughter was livid about the fighting and vowed to ensure it would not happen again. She decided to start a (pretend – I think) “Fight Club” where members were on-call to help out with these situations and ensure peace was coveted, and no one bothered her brothers.

“Take care of each other” BOTTOM LINE: Our gal is always ready to defend her brothers and make sure they are safe, even if she is starting her own Navy Seal type Club for teenage girls, who are strong swimmers and play the cello. 

WHEN IN DOUBT DO THE HEIMLICH: Just yesterday, the boys went down to the park, one with a basketball, the other with a bike, ramp, and probably a sling shot. About 5 minutes into their play, we received a phone call. Our youngest called to let us know “something” happened to his brother. We both sprinted out the door to the park (side note to runners: I don’t know why, but for some reason, I thought FOR SURE I would be faster than my husband in an emergency situation, apparently I was wrong. Again, it’s not about me.) Upon arrival, he was seated on a bench, seemingly okay. Apparently he  was jumping off the ramp, when he fell backwards and landed on his back. His brother didn’t see it, just heard the moan and responded.While he iced his back, my husband and our youngest played basketball in the back. During their game, he said, “You know I gave him the Heimlich.” My husband, thinking he missed the key word in the sentence said, “You what?” “I gave him the Heimlich. He was having trouble breathing and he wouldn’t speak, so I went behind him and gave him the Heimlich. Twice.” My husband praised him for reacting and responding to the needs of his brother, and reviewed the Heimlich with him. After icing the back, all was well and he survived the 2-hour Holy Saturday Mass.

“Take care of each other” BOTTOM LINE: In a scary situation our son knew reacting and responding was the right thing to do. He was there for his brother. 

I’ll leave you with the same petition I impart to our children as they board the bus I wave to wildly every morning, say your prayers, take care of each other, and be kind. Yes, to everyone.

Dig Deep: Sign up for a CPR and First Aid class, take your kids as well. It’s a great staycation idea!

Lenten Challenge: You did it. Make 40 days 80, then more. Say your Rosaries.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ MY RAW, RECOLLECTIONS, MISSPELLINGS AND ALL.

We made it. 40 days of sacrifice, humility, fasting, almsgiving, and because it’s 2018, blogging. Many thanks for reading. Stay tuned for my weekly posts starting next Sunday. Please subscribe.

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Posted in Family, Faith and Fitness, Parenting/Running/Pets

Summer Life Skills aka Chores

Posted on by Lucretia Cahill

Anytime I present a to-do list or chart to my children, I get three different reactions.  One per child.  Sometimes I think they get together and discuss which imaginary award they are vying for…is it?

  1. Most Shocked (gasping noises accompany the reaction),
  2. Thoroughly Disgusted, (must be able to roll eyes while showing disgust), or
  3. Most likely to argue about the chart for as long as it would take to complete every task listed.

As a parent, I have most likely over-charted my children.  From stars on potty charts, smiley faces for washing hands, or making beds, to checks on homework lists.  When my mom came to help out when the kids were born, (we did the Irish triplet approach, so she came once a year), she asked, “Why are you praising them so much, they are just doing what they are supposed to!”  Even though all the parenting books chanted praise, praise, praise, my mom – who raised four girls – and reared with tough love said “Zip it!”  I’ve always listened to mom – so I tried to find the happy medium.  Parent with love, teach responsibility, and never, EVER over praise – around mom.

“Chores?!?”

So each summer I come up with a system.  This time it involves Daily to dos – I can’t call them chores because at our last visit to the pediatrician for our 12-year-old, she asked “So, what chores do you have around the house?”  My kids each had the same response a few years in a row.

Them:  “Feed, the dogs, make my bed…”.

Me (thinking):  Uh-oh, I clearly did not prep well.

Dr. Greene:  “Nope, those aren’t chores” the doctor interrupted, “those are things your suppose to do.”

My mom suddenly reappeared as our children’s doctor.  I was caught.

At least they we were good on “screen time”.  Our kids always responded to the, “and how much screen time do you get?” question with a look of vengeance saying, “SHE (jerking their head in my direction) only lets us have 20 minutes a day IF our homework is done, and NO I don’t have a TV in my room.”

Aha!  I’m not wrecking them completely.  In fact parenting expert Jim Fay, co-founder of the Love and Logic website implores parents to have children make their contribution, stressing how we all need to feel needed.  “But they can’t feel that way if they don’t have chores and make contributions to the family,” according to Fay.

So, who am I to argue with Love and Logic?  Here are the charts I created merging many ideas together:

Here’s the Main Chart.  I’ve separated into daily and weekly jobs.

Daily Duties are logical things I am STILL (ugh!) reminding them to do, so now it’s the charts turn.

Weekly Duties are not crazy hard, but still take time.  Monday’s job, the Room of Responsibility (ROR), is rotated every week.  They each get two.

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Cleaning tips by room:

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Ideas for incentives:

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Hope you can skim some ideas off these charts.

Now go for a nice run, enjoy coming home to a clean home, and remember your children will thank you in 15-20 years for teaching them that cleaning a toilet is TO a life skill!

 

 

Posted in Parenting/Running/Pets

LEASH-LESS LOVE!

Posted on by Lucretia Cahill

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So this is where I start blogging.  My first post will be about my ultimate running partner – Misty – a lab/chow mix with a tender heart, who kept my pace strong, and my mind focused.

Misty. In simply typing her name the feelings evoked deep within my core outpour. Ever since I was young, I’ve pined for the feeling of safety. The warmth and security a robin feels when it buries its head under its wing to stave off the bitter cold. I crave comfort and abhor fear. I was once told (yes, by a therapist), that my personal tendency is to place myself in situations that are not safe, because I yearn to conquer this panic. Moving to DC on my own, running at night, living in India where I traveled alone and sleeping on the beach in Mexico by myself (with several mosquitos). These were all experiences I chose to help strengthen my being, or so I thought. Then one cold day in January 1994, a jet-black puppy with ears as soft as satin, spirited eyes and a gentle soul found me and pledged to keep me safe. It was a non-verbal promise, but as soon as we became family, a sense of relief, happiness and belonging ensued.

Now it was me and Misty living in DC running at night, together. In a sense, she carried me through adulthood and gave me the courage to try things that were new, daring, and at times not too bright. She’d wait for me in the car at night if I had to run to the store, she’d linger for hours while I worked double shifts and was ready to jump in the car at 3:00 am so we could find a parking space across the street at “the far lot” and we’d run back together. She caught my tears, listened when I had to talk and sat next to me while I went for a drive, ears flapping in the wind.

I’ve been on a lot of walks and runs in my life. Some with friends who you share your latest triumphs or queries; others with family where you talk about growing up, religion, or maybe even politics – if you’re careful. Being outside with someone – or alone, whether walking or running is a time when a bond is formed.  After running with Misty, my brain always thought more clearly, and my soul felt more alive.  She ran with me, ahead of me, next to me, jumped in Rock Creek and powered up the rocks back on the trail to finish our run. I was always leery to let her run off-leash thinking she’d decide to really catch the squirrel this time — once I even thought I’d lost her, but on that snowy day in Maryland, she was out running with deer in a field as happy as could be.  She saw me, and came right back.  The elation she showed when flying down a hill, herding another dog during a game of fetch, or jumping in the water, was priceless. Had I restricted her, she would have missed out on all of those moments dogs need to thrive and be alive.

Then, when Misty was 17, it came the time when I had to let her off of her leash, literally and figuratively.  My running partner needed to rest.  As mournful as it was, it was the right thing to do.  Our children were five, seven, and eight-years old then, and were very attached to her, so we went in the backyard, and spent a few minutes with Misty before we took her to the vet.  Here’s what I said:

Misty, you graced each of our lives in different ways…you gave Dexter (7) empathy and compassion…he always said, “excuse me Misty”, helped if you needed something, cleared paths for you, ran with you on the tennis courts, road his bike along side you and laughed when he chased you. You gave Cora (8) the sister she always wanted and showed her how to be resilient even if your brother (Abe the cat) scratched you. You taught her how to walk away with grace when someone is unkind and to love unconditionally. You gave Zavier (5) the companion he needed when Cora and Dexter went off to school and showed him how to wait patiently for mama while she busied around the house. You taught him the importance of taking care of family by sitting nicely while you received your fluids and listened to him while he talked non-stop. You showed papa how you just need to wait until I’m out the door to truly believe I’m “ready to go”, and you showed all of us loyalty, for you have always been devoted to our family. You held steadfast as my best friend for 17 years. I never needed another. I often chose to stay home with you instead of going out when an invitation arrived and then Justin joined us because he was happy staying with us…and then we made a family.  Mist, I’ll be okay, I’ll miss the security you always brought me and the love you delicately poured out to me, but mostly I’ll miss my girl, my dear confidant, my Mist.

Running, being a wife and mother, and writing, these things encompass who I am.  Now I will attempt to make my small contribution to the world, just as Misty brought me strength to be brave.

“A time to mourn…and a time for peace”