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Health & Fitness

So What? Nothing Can Deter You

When I was 13 years old, mom was about to turn 40. I thought 40 was extremely old and I worried mom would turn into a mean and strict mommie because 40 was surely old to a 13 year old kid. The day came and went and mom was the same sweet and good mommie she was the day before.

So 40 was old then and now the 70s are still young to me. My friend Virginia became a grandmother at the age of 72 and a half (her words) ten and half years ago. She said to me that she was the oldest first time grandmother in Pikesville where we live and I said so what. You are that and that is wonderful at whatever age it occurs. I have a new physical therapist helping me to stand straighter.The physical therapist was checking me over and I mentioned that I am knock-kneed (technically called genu valgum) and she said so what?

She, at age 36 is herself knock-kneed and her doctor told her because of that not to run daily for her exercise. She said to him I will and she does and very successfully. So our medical people do not always know how to tell us what not to or to do and to be right.

Some people believe that they can never learn to ballroom dance successfully because they are too old now or knock-kneed like me or maybe not hear too well or even wear thick glasses. Everyone can learn to ballroom dance and do it well if only they really want to learn and be superb doing it. I have seen in my dance lifetime career so many people who would seem unsuitable to dance. I saw a lovely couple who met at the dance studio who were physically almost unattractive together when they danced. The reason being he was a man of a fully extended belly and many inches taller than she, who was short and kind of plump.

They met there, she was a divorced mom of several children, he had never married and they clicked when they danced. They wound up marrying and he became an instant dad and grand pop. They excelled in their lessons together and competed as a couple and won medals. When they danced, they were like velvet, smooth and attractive and when you watched them, you thought them stunning. You never noticed his extended belly or that she was so much shorter than him.

They were golden in their movements and platinum in their performances. They were what one tries to be when starting out to dance. They did not let their unusual height difference dissuade them from achieving their goal. They became very well known in their community and encouraged people to dance. They even hosted out of town dancers coming to the studio by having them stay at their home overnight at no cost. They transported these people and hosted them with great hospitality. They were what we call real menches (people of worth to other people). They were and probably still are good examples of dear souls

So everyone can go and dance at any age or do other activities and the starting period does not have to be early. It can be in the 40s as we did, the 50s, the 60s and even 70s. One fan of my columns started at age 79 and a half due to reading one of my articles encouraging everyone to dance. It is now four or five years later and dancing is the love of her life.

Shakespeare said ‘those whose beauty gives them the power to hurt others but refuse to, then those are the ones who rightly inherit heaven’s blessings and keep nature’s treasures from being wasted.” We do not want to waste nature’s treasures to us and learning to ballroom dance or a variety of other things is heaven’s blessing.

We should all tap our potential in anything we have desired to do regardless of our now age. We are at a peak time in our life and if finances are good or even not so great in these trying times and we can spare some money to spend on our self for great gratification, then we should attempt to do so. We cannot always keep thinking of the future and monetary needs then (though that is extremely important too) but we should enjoy life now as long as we are healthy and able. I am not saying to spend and not think of the future health needs ,but we can try to maybe cut down on other unnecessary items and spend that money on some fun things.

I have a friend Allison who spends lots of money on purses that cost four hundred dollars or blouses that cost two hundred dollars. She does not really go any place where these very impressively costly items would show her off. She just has them and wears them to work. She once said she works even though her husband is retired, so she can have these expensive apparel items. She eats out in expensive restaurants where a baked potato costs ten dollars and that same potato costs thirty five cents in the supermarket. She will eat at a dinner that winds up on the check for over one hundred fifty dollars and I always say I can be filled up on a thirty dollar meal of nice and clean food, just as well as the costly dinner with the expensive baked potato.

We would rather put our money into something tangible like for home furnishings or electronics or a vacation or ballroom dancing. Then we have something to show for it rather than a full belly like Allison. A full belly is over within a day or so and the only thing you have to show for it is acid reflux, a tummy ache or some added weight.

When you ballroom dance, you have learned a skill that is not only excellent for your mind, your feet, your arms, your soles, your soul and your brain. You will scare away Alzheimer’s possibly and your mental status will be full.

We can encourage others to go and at least try to dance at any age and we can inherit heaven’s blessings because we will be content in knowing we have accomplished a new feat with our feet and our mind will be richer for the experience. I do not need a four hundred dollar purse to carry my reading glasses or my makeup in because my thirty dollar or less purse will still hold the same items. The items in my mind are attempting to execute the steps of the dance and my abdomen is emptier because I did not eat that ten dollar baked potato to fill me up.

The knock-knees that I truly did not know I had until about ten years ago, when during a physical yearly exam and the doctor said “you really are knock- kneed.” I said what? They are still working and dancing.

So they did not deter me from winning over the years fifty eight trophies and medals. To the two doctors, mine and the physical therapist’s one, as she said to me “so what”.

Knock-kneed did not deter me or does not deter her, her name is Emma and we both are stronger regardless of what the medical people assert. We are inheriting heaven’s blessings, me who can dance with it and she who can run miles with it.

In fact she met her husband at a running event and they are married and now expecting their first child, a girl..So running with her knock-knees got her a husband, a child, happiness and good exercise.
 
When my dad died, Mom was fifty-seven and she went to work for the state of Maryland.When the doctor for the state examined her, he noted on her application, that she said she had had a heart attack at about age 50. He said you are not qualified to work for the state. So she persevered and another doctor there said she was fine. She worked for them for thirteen years without missing a day and Dr. Needle (funny name for a doctor) passed away himself from a heart attack a few years later. Mom actually said to him that day “so what.” Mom beat the doctor in getting the job she did so well in and also in her age when she finally passed on.Let nothing deter you in your quest for happiness in whatever it is you desire.Emma’s miles and my steps are bigger and better than any doctor’s diagnosis. My diagnosis is for you all to reap heaven’s blessings and go out and bring to fruition that what you want.

Do it now and do it soon and you will be thrilled at what you can procure.

To modify Shakespeare a bit, I say YOU have the power to change nature and to reap all blessings you deserve. Go out and ballroom dance or anything else you think you cannot do. Mom was the same dear person at age forty that a little kid thought would be altered overnight. You are a qualified and wonderful person that you always were and age should not transform the fact. Age is making you more precious and special. You are steady, regular and stable. You still have heaven’s blessings.  

 Katherine Ann Porter, the author said “sometimes you seek for pleasure or profit the thing you will to occur.”

My own brother went back to get an additional college degree at the age of 36. He drove a truck on the weekends to help support his wife and two young children. He would always come late to pharmacy school on Monday mornings. When he graduated at almost 40, he won the award for excellence in studies. He finally admitted to the professors why he was always late on Monday mornings to class. He had just come off the road of making truck deliveries out of town, came home to shower and off to school without any night’s sleep.The awarding committee mentioned this at the graduation of a man almost forty with a class of young people in their early twenties. I, myself went to college at almost thirty-four and graduated five years later with honor.I had two young children then and a husband.It was rare then for people over thirty to go back to get more education.

Anything, one wants to accomplish and someone will say to them “Why do you do this at this advanced age.” You say “So what on my age, I can do it and I will.” As Katherine Ann Porter said the thing you will to occur, will occur.

That happened  to Laurence, my friend and teacher from the 1970s until 1985, when he went to seek his fortune up north in Boston and wound up in Maine where he was a successful dance studio owner and now he became a magnificent chaplain at age fifty-five.

All of you can do anything you want, at any time, at any moment the thought pops up into your head.You will inherit heaven’s blessings and be blessed in your heart and mind because you tried. So what, do not let anyone deter you.

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