Friendship

F is for Friendship   (It's a little late because apparently I hit Save instead of Publish.)

Find a buddy! Walk with a partner!  Exercise with a friend!

I've heard all these through the years, but I have a hard time following them.  Lately I've had a partner, though. My husband walks with me.  He is the perfect walking partner, because he matches me step for step when we walk together.  We calibrated our pedometers, and we walk the same length step, the same number of steps to a mile. 

This has taken almost 33 years to perfect.  I can remember many times over the years asking him to slow down, or even just plain stopping if he got ahead, until he suddenly realized I wasn't there.  It's not that his legs are longer, it's just that he is high energy, so he does everything quickly.  Now we pretty much fall into the habit of matching steps, which I really appreciate. If I am in a speedy mode, he keeps up. When I slow down, so does he.  And amazingly, he keeps walking with me. He's a pretty great guy!

I walked with a friend once, and she walked so quickly that I was panting just to keep up, so that didn't last because she was impatient with me. I walked with a group for a while.  We went for long, rambling walks.  It wasn't terribly aerobic, but at least we were moving.  And we were outdoors.

At TOPS, we constantly encourage each other.  One of the things we all do is send little note cards to each other, one or two a week, especially if there's a contest on.  I stick mine up on a door. These little encouraging notes of friendship help me keep going back.  Some of the people use pre-stamped postcards. It's a great way to save money and keep the notes short but encouraging.  What I sometimes do is make something up on my computer.  When we do roll-call people will say, "I got notes from......and talked to.......on the phone.  I usually forget to do that, so people probably don't think I appreciate their notes. As you can see from the picture below, they really encourage me.

All but two of the items on the door are cards or gifts from TOPS friends. Even the calendar! The chart on the bottom with the flowers is for another set of goals I am working on, and the top right is a birthday card from church friends.