Happy Sunday -
It is my 53rd birthday this Thursday
Won't you join me for a class?
I intend on celebrating all week long, with birthday themed classes. and exercise snacks, too.
But...I want to talk about that precocious little girl up there, and the versions of Erin since.
It was not long after this photo was taken that my father experienced his first "heart episode" when he was 32 years old.
Back in the 70s, medical science was nowhere near where it is now. I grew up with a lot of uncertainty and fear in my household. My parents were wonderful, but the medical highs and lows were a lot. The night before the heart attack that took my father's life, he went to our GP with chest pains. By then, dad was a 41-year-old with a bionic heart (he had triple bypass surgery in 1976 and he had already had two major heart attacks and a stroke that left him blind for months.
But the night before my dad died, the family GP told him to go home and "relax" with a stiff scotch on the rocks.
Like I said, medicine has come a long way.
Oh, and my family doctor later on died of alcoholism.
But that's another story.
You have heard me say many times that my purpose found me early. In the midst of deep grief, I found exercise to be the answer to nearly anything. I strapped on a pair of running shoes when I was 11; I found Jane Fonda when I was 12 and taught my first aerobics class when I was 16.
It would be a wonderful After School Special, starring one of the girls from the Facts of Life, if I had been this inspiring fitness instructor my whole life, and not someone who also had Jeckyl inside of her. I had learned how to numb early on - with sugar, with booze and drugs, with anything that kept me from feeling.
My 20s were a blur or university degrees, travel, and an eating disorder. My 30s found me pushing my career forward, all the while grieving repeated miscarriage loss and trying to push the beast of alcoholic drinking away.
I got sober at 42, and the last decade has been the one I am most proud of - not because I have won Canada's Top Fitness Instructor (twice :-) or been on Breakfast TV or was headhunted by one of the world's biggest fitness companies.
I am proud of the person that I have become - the mother I am, the fitness coach and leader I strive to be, and someone who tries to lead from a place of compassion, and heart.
Mostly I am proud that I get up every day and try.
So, for my birthday this week, I ask for one thing:
Keep trying
LIVE CLASSES VIA ZOOM
3103249098
Password; FITFAM
MORNING:
630 AM - MOBILITY and POSITIVITY
645 - FULL CLASS
M - Tabata (you can do any move, or use the BIKE!
Tuesday - LOADED Bands
Wed: 46 MINUTE RIDE!!! (we are RIDING for my birthday) with short core!
Thurs: MY BIRTHDAY FULL BODY STRONG
FRI: FLOW at 8 AM
*** Friday is GOOD FRIDAY and I will be on the Danforth for the beautiful walk at 10 am. But let's sleep in just a little FRIDAY
MIDDAY
12pm Exercise Snacks
EVENING
Monday
630: Strength and Conditioning
7:15 - CYCLE - Erin's Fave Tunes!
SATURDAY
9 AM CYCLE
10 AM - Full Body Strength!
Green Goddess Bowls - Making these!
10 Minute Outer Thigh Mini Bands
Let's have an amazing week!
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