You guys, you guys: guess who was just here?!
Did you guess Alex? Because you would win the prize if you guessed Alex.
He and two of his friends/business partners made a quick trip to Gladlyville in an attempt to recruit a mutual friend, and they all spent a fair amount of time hanging out at our house.
I miss having company.
Alex keeps start-up hours, so we did not see each other this morning. But he called me to see if I wanted to have lunch, and we ate takeout Korean food together. Is it weird that I had not used chopsticks since the end of 2019? It felt a little weird.
He has grown a big red beard, which he strokes contemplatively. "That's MY Alex," I think every time I see that red beard.
He will be coming back next week for Thanksgiving, so this is not a long goodbye. I sure do miss that boy when he's away.
**
After dinner I asked Pete to start the dishes. He said, "What if we have a plank contest? What if the winner does the other person's dishes?"
I wasn't sure how it would go, because Pete is strong from rock-climbing and I never do bodyweight exercises these days (except for pull-ups, which don't engage many of the same muscles). But why not?
I won the first plank competition handily, but Pete wanted a rematch. I had told him I found it easier to plank with my arms extended than with my elbows bent, and so we agreed to mix and match for round #1: high plank for me, low plank for him. "Let's switch," he said, "and see if you can still beat me." Round #2: low plank for me, high plank for him. Winner: the middle-aged lady, not the teen.
"OK, OK," he said. "What if we have a dead hang contest AND I give you a handicap AND I do your dishes for a WEEK if you beat me?" We did some negotiating over the terms of the handicap (that boy can dead-hang for a long time) and the terms of the bet, and then we headed into the basement. And? I won again!
So if you have been debating about whether lifting is right for you, consider this: not only will you grow shiny new muscles and protect yourself from osteoporosis and discover that you are suddenly able to close windows that everyone else swears are stuck -- not only that! You will also be able to hustle your children into doing your household chores! Who could ask for anything more?
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