Black Black Sit Up Day

My husband and I My Daughter "The Sock Fashion Expert"

Me

The Big Boys - My MAN, "Fiery and Matthew", The Archer

Art Dog and SFE getting off the lift

I knew the day would come..... it haunted me..... it teased me...... it tormented me......... The Black Black Sit Up Day came upon me. It happened toward the end of our girls group fast. I had been emotional for a long time, and not gotten much sleep in days. It was day 51...............

On Day 49, I got up from my night shift and skied an hour. I did 100 sit ups and 100 cross crunches. On Day 50 I did the ab ball routine along with about a 4 mile ski trek. Day 51 - Black Sit up Day. Day 52 - I woke up ready for all day snow boarding at the local ski resort. It had been days since I'd slept well, but I felt like I was coming out of it. I began to get dressed. As I walked by my mirror, I recognized abdominal muscles I'd never seen before. In my sleepy haze, I began admiring them. I had never looked like this before, not even in my teens or 20's. All at once it occurred to me that the figure I was admiring was my own. At the same time, the realization hit me that I had neglected to do any sit ups on day 51! We'd been gone at church and then over to friends until that night. I had gotten home and climbed into bed exhausted. I always knew that it would eventually happen, but had never wanted to consider it. How am I supposed to get through doing this for a year when my record was now tarnished? The dread and frustration never came. I just kept looking in the mirror in wonder. That's when I knew that I needed to keep doing it. I would do what I could to make up for yesterday, but I wanted to keep going. In 50 days, I had produced something I never imagined or had the motivation to do. I had real ab muscles under there and they were beginning to show.........

On Day 52, that day of dawning, we were to be gone snow boarding all day. It was the first time in years we'd gone. The younger kids were traded for some friends husbands while the older kids remained with us. The big ol' caravan of us stuffed together in our Suburban managed up to the Chalet. For the first time in a long time, I rode the lift up to the top. As I followed the kids down an easier hill, I marvelled at how it all came back to me. In minutes I was carving gracefully. I had carved a bit here at home, and on the road, but have had trouble doing it in powder. The groomed hill made it really really easy. As a matter of fact, over the course of the day, I was amazed that fear didn't seem to have a hold on me. I tried anything with whomever I was with. When it was my turn to board with the big boyz, I wasn't as fast, but had fun following them around. My favorite memories included riding the lift up with my husband, seeing how well the kids did and also another shocking realization........ The last time I'd been here, I remember that I had gotten 3/4 of the way down and I hurt bad. I think that day I maybe only made it up and down 3 or 4 times the entire day. It just hurt too bad and I wore out fast. This time (maybe 5 years later) I could make it down 3x before I needed a rest and ended up doing it 8-9x total. That was just so cool.... When I got home, though I was hurting after 7 hours on the mountain, I did my 100 sit ups for BLACK SIT UP DAY AND I did 50 for that day........ Then I joined my congregating family in the ol' hot tub ;-)