I love going to the theater.  Miss Saigon, Les Mis, West Side Story, Mama Mia, The Producers, Stomp, Annie Get Your Gun, Spamalot, Rent – I’ve seen them in London, on Broadway, in Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans.  In high school, I was in a production of Oklahoma! and I loved that, too.  I sing the songs in my head and outloud, while driving, cooking or whatever. I warn you – although in my head and in my shower, I am all Celine Dion. In your ears, I’m prolly a whole lot more Cameron Diaz (My Best Friend’s Wedding).  Still – top of my lungs, baby.  I sing at the top of my lungs! 🙂

In my dreams last night, for some reason, I sang this one from Rent – 525,600 Minutes.

I really love this piece of music!  That’s what we all have 525,600 minutes.  Every year we live, that’s what we have.  No more, no less and it doesn’t matter who you are.

I grew up with a woman who walks between five and six miles most days.  Mary works at a hospital in Brookhaven and, even when she works until midnight, she gets up, goes to the park and walks.  Such commitment to herself! I see her posts on Facebook and they stay with me.  I don’t know if she walks with anyone or alone.  I don’t know if she has any kind of local support group.  I just see that she makes those walks and that she’s doing it for herself.  In so doing, she actually helped me at the grocery store the other day.

I’m really struggling with cravings for sweets right now.  Walking by a whole rack of Tastykakes (can you believe the gall of the store to just put a whole-great-big rack of those things right out in the open?!), I was wanting to climb right into one of those bags!  Then I thought of Mary.  I thought of her commitment to herself in her walks and in working for better health.

My knee has been giving me a really hard time the last six weeks or so (which is why you haven’t heard me talk about kickboxing in awhile).  It’s getting better; but, it was hurting after just a regular day’s walking.  So, walking on a treadmill was out.  Still, the first 50 pounds of The Big Shrink were just food.  I can still focus on that without the knee having anything to say about it. I can stay committed to myself and stay the course.

52 weeks,  365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes.  How many of those will I use making myself healthier, stronger, kinder, more compassionate, better?  How many will you?