Inspiration - 2nd Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

A dear and longtime friend pointed out that we would both be celebrating our 60th birthday in the coming year and proposed we do something together to embrace this milestone. Our families have vacationed and traveled literally all over the world together so that idea sounded great! It is a great idea until taking into account the current tentativeness of any plans made. But we haven’t given up, and just recently revisited the idea. No doubt when we cook up a plan it will involve nature and long walks so I will revisit this celebratory trip later on this forum in 2022.

In the meantime though, this friend got me thinking and fired up to not let this year pass like just any other one. Her inspiration fueled the idea for me to create concrete goals, and in an effort to keep me accountable I created this blog|phog. My dear friend has been an inspiration for healthy lifestyle living for many years. Very shortly after successful “couple dating” we decided camping and skiing would be wonderful ways to embrace both seasons of Michigan: Hot & Cold. Winters are so very long in Michigan and if you don’t meet it head-on one could go stir crazy, especially if you have young children at home. Skiing with our dear family friends created many treasured memories…an Easter egg hunt in the snow up in Canada may be the best, or perhaps a time when red wine and powdered donuts were enjoyed together by an unnamed member of our traveling group (see why we need the influence of healthy friends). In the “hot” season we camped all over Michigan, together exploring lakes, rivers and trails. A canoe tipping in chilly river waters probably caused the greatest moms reaction but no one was harmed in the making of that memory, so all was well. But I would say our greatest camping outing was our vacation trip to Alaska. We rented 2 RVs and created so many great memories exploring mountains and seaside locations and everything in between.

We don’t get together without either sharing a wonderfully prepared meal or heading out onto the next adventure. These friends keep us inspired to keep moving and to make healthy food choices (the wine/donut thing happened a long time ago and only that one time, really). One of my more recent favorite activities with M. is blueberry picking in northern Michigan at a roadside self-pick blueberry patch. That is super healthy, and fun!

So, thank you for many things, but this year especially for providing the inspiration to make this a great year by making health a priority, and basically the idea of not putting off until tomorrow what should be addressed today. ‘Til next time.