jo burgess hannon

fit for today, fit for life

What’s old is new again

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One of the things I really enjoy is working with older people.  The upside when you are an orphan (can I say that when I lost both my parents by the time I was 50?) is that I love the nurturing, caring side of those I share my life with each week.  In addition to cardio and strength classes, I teach active older adult fitness classes. Yes, it is about exercise.  However, a big part of aging well is having a community you can connect and spend time with. I like to think I provide that each week for my seniors.

wedding chalkboard
re-purpose

 

The downside is that people age before your eyes. I realized a few years in, that I would see them come. I would see them go.

 

re-use, re-purpose
re-use, re-purpose

 

And, then what I came to appreciate is that aging is good.  The life lived can teach me.  The stories told can make me laugh.  The aging, yet hard, can help me accept my own mortality.

 

re-use, re-purpose, use again
re-use, re-purpose, use again

 

Mostly, what I have learned is that at any age I can re-invent, change, make a difference, have an impact.

How high are your heels?

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Being 5’ 2”, I have had visions of myself taller with longer legs. When I was young I thought my feet were too big. It was a sad day when I could no longer fit into my Mom’s size 5 ½ pointy toe pumps.  As a teenager I used to cram my feet into shoes too small because of a number on a box. Ah, youth.

My daughter around age 2
My daughter around age 2

 

So the first time I heard “Jo, I want to look like you”, I was surprised. It was a comment from a participant in a fitness class I was teaching. The student was referring to my fitness level and muscle tone. I admit I was flattered. Though my feet looked even bigger in fitness shoes, I realized I had become a role model.

teaching a group fitness class at the Y. (photo credit Romeo Sanidad)

 

My stylist tells a story of the client who brings in a photo wanting her hair to look like a celebrity. The hair in the photo looks easy to achieve. However, it’s a red carpet moment, where the star has spent hours before with a team of professionals to cut, color, highlight and style her hair. And probably 5 different styling tools were used and as many styling products.

 

Mother of the Bride--It takes a village (photo credit Folk&Lore)
Mother of the Bride–It takes a village (photo credit Folk&Lore)

 

So here’s what I have learned. We are all unique individuals and not meant to be clones. We are meant to be our best self. Someone who uses another as a fitness model has to recognize that similar to being runway ready, most likely much work, time, professional advice, tools and whole foods has gone into the achievement. And, we will never look identical to the picture.

One of the biggest joys I get teaching classes is looking across a room of people and seeing diversity: different height, weight, body composition. This is my picture of perfection.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I also get to wear the most comfortable shoes ever.

changing lives one class at a time (photo credit Romeo Sanidad)
Here’s to looking at you!
(photo credit Romeo Sanidad)

 

Have you tucked your dreams away?

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Corduroy bellbottoms made by my mom, 1972 (Matching gold vest next to my flowered coat)
Corduroy bellbottoms made by my mom, 1972

 

When I was young my mom made most all of my clothes. If not, they usually came from the Goodwill. From about age 7, I begged her to teach me how to sew. I really wanted to learn how to run that sewing machine. She was so good at it, yet she always said she wasn’t; that it was her mom that was the real seamstress.

 

Grandma's patterns
Grandma’s patterns

 

Brothers Bill, Tim, Keith, my Mom. Shirts made by her mom.
Brothers Bill, Tim, Keith, my Mom. Shirts made by her mom.

 

So, yep, I can sew. Nope, I don’t make any of my own clothes. I used to, before fabric became more expensive than ready-made. Now I only dust off my sewing machine (a high school graduation gift) to hem a pair of pants or make a quick alteration. The last large sewing project was making a slipcover for a chair. Before that, I made matching clothes for my daughter and her dolls.

 

Halloween 2000
Halloween 2000

 

I’ve always loved the hand sewing part of finishing a project. For a while I wanted to be a quilter. I was inspired by some amazing quilts made by my Aunt Marni. I bought a few basic supplies like a cutting wheel and quilting square, but never did make a quilt. Now, years later, as I am donating those items, I realize I was fantasizing about being an awesome quilt maker. I really never wanted to go to all the work required to make that quilt happen, I just wanted the beautiful quilt.

So how about you? Do have a fantasy of who you want to be; yet reality is you haven’t put in the work? Are you ok with letting it go?

No quilt guilt for me.

Is it all perspective?

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December is Seattle’s rainiest month. Half the time, the city receives 5 to 8 inches of precipitation for the month.

daffodils blooming in February, in the rain.
daffodils blooming in February, in the rain.

 

Yes, the Daffs look a little soggy.  It’s raining here.  I meant to snap a photo yesterday when it was dry.  I heard a news clip saying something about lots of rain and records being broke.  I tried to look it up this morning because I just wasn’t feeling the crush of a low, hanging gray sky like I have in the past.  Spoiler alert, if rain depresses you, don’t look up Seattle averages.  For 2015 we were 7 inches about the average and most of those extra inches of rain accumulated in December.

Here’s the thing; I have lived here my whole life.  I feel like I have seen more Seattle blue sky in the last 12 months than I ever have in any 1 year period.  I think it is true, but when I look at the weather stats, I question myself.  Maybe it is just the way the rain has fallen.  Somedays I am running into the Y, hood up, trying to quickly escape the pelting drops.  That same afternoon, I drive along in glorious sunshine, with blue skies mixed in with the fluffy white clouds, trying to remember the morning rain as my wipers squeak across the dry windshield. Has the weather pattern changed where we get more rain all at once, instead of that never ending drizzle that seems to go on for days?

I’m not sure. And then I look out my window and see the daffodils blooming.  They make me smile. Maybe in the past I have been so grumpy about the rain I never really appreciated the patches of blue sky we do get. I am trying to adopt a motto of one of my Y friends, ‘don’t squander a sunny day’.  However, most days my to-do list is long and I don’t have a whole day to take off and be outside.  So instead I am trying to appreciate a sunny moment, feel the sun on my face, the bright in my eyes. And, try not to notice my windows are dirty.