Putting the Blackberry Down....

Wednesday mornings, Charlie, my daughter, has to be at the HOV lot by 8:15 if she hopes to catch a ride to the city to make it to work on time. Normally her phone acts as her primary alarm, and I act as a secondary alarm. For those of you that know Charlie well, you know that I act as a secondary alarm somewhat regularly. But yesterday morning her phone was still locked up at the Salon where it was left when she had her seizure last Saturday, so I offered to act as her primary alarm for the day.

My alarm went off at the agreed upon time. I rolled over, turned it off and laid there for a second. It was cold, and I was pretty warm snuggled in my bed with my puppies. Since I get ready much quicker than Charlie and my work-out for the day was scheduled for after-work, I could hang out in bed a little longer before I had to get up. I reached over and grabbed my blackberry. Charlie was in the basement, and I was two floors up. I would call the house phone which was in her room, and that would wake her up. Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring..."You have reached the home of  Chuck and Angie...." Click. Let's try again....Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring..."You have reached the home of Chuck and Angie...." Slam! Answer the phone, I  really don't want to get out of bed and face the cold morning just yet!" Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring...@$#%> Third strike, I'm out!

So I grumbled my way down the two flights of stairs complaining to myself all the way down. When I reached the basement I called out rather shrilly,"Charlie, Wake up! Charlie, Are you sitting up? I'm not coming down again!" Mission accomplished; I started my ascent. It was on the way back up that I had a revelation. How ridiculous was I being? I had let myself get worked up essentially because I had to walk a few extra steps. And that's when I really had to stop and examine my actions. I regularly call Charlie on the phone while we are both in the house, and she in turn regularly calls me. When Chelsey is home, she has been known to call me from her bedroom when I am only two doors down in my bedroom.

So, as I was pondering the absurdity of this, I remembered a fitness segment I had seen on TV recently which focused on the small changes we can make to improve our fitness levels on a daily basis. Park your car at the farthest end of the parking lot from where the door is, if you work every day in a desk job, get up and walk down the hallway to share a piece of information with your co-worker instead of sending an e-mail,  or take your dog for a walk around the block instead of letting them out in the back yard to run.  Needless to say, my new small fitness change this week will be to put the blackberry down in my house and dialogue face to face with my family members. I imagine that my rewards will be far more than just physical.