Now, just so you don’t think I’m an overly dramatic person (you can decide that later), let me backtrack a bit here. I walked 10 minutes to catch the “T” in Boston for years as an undergraduate and graduate student, and other than the long walks to the bathroom (my undergraduate and graduate student offices were in an old converted shoe factory with at least a 5 minute walk outside my actual building to get to any facilities), I was sedentary. This was entirely by choice. As a kid I was always playing outside, you couldn’t GET me to come inside. I was riding my bike, singing at the top of my lungs, swinging on the swing set…but never any organized sports. Nooo that would be a terrible thing to suggest! The first activity I took part in was ballet, but even this was met with resistance. I wanted to do jazz, modern, interpretive…anything but awful, boring ballet! But I was told that until you understand the foundations of the ballet art form, you can’t learn any other kind of dance. Fine. I hear you. I’ll do your “ballet”…and then just when I get really good, advanced even, beyond my age group in pointe…I’ll quit. Why? Because, did I mention, IT WAS BORING?! As a disclaimer, please note that this is my elementary-aged self speaking here, I actually find ballet to be a beautiful art form and am incredibly impressed by those that have mastered it…but my uncultured 10-year-old self wanted nothing of it. Following ballet I had a fling with several instruments (violin, flute, and piano), but nothing stuck. I had a serious love affair with singing, but I was dumped when it was made very clear after voice lessons that I, in fact, do not possess an amazing singing voice. Alas, I will save it for the shower and the car. Let me also take a moment to point out that these are NOT physical activities and therefore did not help my cause at all. I did, however, have a pretty good run with softball. In fact, I was actually really good at it and really loved it. I always chose the path of most resistance (I enjoyed being “odd” as a kid and the one who did the “thing” no one else would do because it was just so awful – but I would SHOW YOU that it was in fact NOT awful). So I became the catcher when no one else wanted to. It was also perfect for me because I got bored easily and as the catcher I was in every play. Brilliant. This was going really well…until I moved to a new town to start high school and I was particularly body-conscious at this time (who isn’t), only to discover that my new school had previously won the state championship for softball and they. were. fierce. Don’t even ask me if I tried out. You already know the answer. So I continued my endeavors of singing and dancing into musical theater, which I LOVED and was much better at, and forgot most of the time that I was moving at all (note this for later – I usually need to be tricked to do something active). My love for musicals was only rivaled by my love for sailing – but the latter was seasonal and much more expensive (and again, only minimally active comparatively), so it was soon phased out as well. I’ll get back to sailing again, I already promised myself (and as you know, I HATE breaking promises to myself).
