Licensed

I think that after a stressful event there are two ways to react: 

A happy dance, energized and exultant one whoops it up

or

weak-kneed, shaky, teary with relief one sinks into a chair 

I was the latter today.

6 years ago I stood in the shell of a decrepit old castle with a good few inches of bird (and other) poop on the floor and wondered if I (and others) must be mad to think children would one day play safely in this space.  

It has been a long journey, with many setbacks and obstacles.  This is the only project I actually walked out on in frustration and anger when things were not going in a direction that was respectiful of the children who would one day occupy the space.  I believe I packed up my stuff, as the room looked on in silence, and said something like "I wouldn't put horses on that playground let alone children.  When you decide to offer a space that is worthy of young children feel free to call me but this is not it".  

 

Someone called it a "power play" but is was my moment of "enough".  

These spaces are created for children and families and Educators but they are a piece of a much larger political and social agenda.  It can be tough to navigate and as merely the tennant we can get sidelined and squeezed out.  But we held the line for the children. We always do.

All those busy days, those days of discussions on flooring and lighting and the size of storage rooms, the height of windows and so much more (the discussion on the height to toilets is 15 emails long alone!)...  they... are...over! 

Today we had our final inspection in order to be granted a license to operate Gardens Children's Centre (notwithstanding the fact we have spent 50k, hired 9 staff and enrolled 40 families already) and we PASSED with flying colours.  

And I sat down, weak-kneed and teary after I high-fived my colleague.  

I am deeply grateful for all the people over all the years who stepped up to make this place the beauty it is today.  If ever it took a village, this one took a city, a developer, a non-profit and a ton of hours of work and thought and commitment to get us over the finish line.  

I have loved being in the castle for the last couple weeks (often on my own just taking it all in - reminiscing on the journey) but my time of start-up is coming to an end soon and I will be going back to my regular desk and the laughter, tears and energy of the smallest citizens will be the soundtrack here of living their lives alongside our excellent educators here.

My heart is full of gratitude and expectation for what this place represents for our community now and for decades to come.  Our vision is unfolding again in a new place - "Changing the world by honouring childhood"

And now I need a kleenex and a coffee. 

May the work we do, make the world we live in, a little more worthy of our children". Tom Hunter

ROAR!!!!

Remember THIS start to our 8 week Warrior Challenge?

Well....

It.is.DONE!

8 weeks - 8 nutritional challenges which were cumulative and 8 physical challenges which - thank goodness - were not!

This is what I remember:
Drink one large glass of water before you do anything in the morning (then proceed to spend the day calculating your distance from the bathroom)
No eating after 8pm (no problem.....on weekdays)
Drink a glass of water 20 minutes before every meal (see above for bathroom impacts)
Have 20g of protein at every meal.  40g for Allan.  
Prep all meals for 4 / 5 days at a time.
Have Vegetables at every meal (Please note: Bacon is not considered a vegetable) 
No sugar (no comment)
No alcohol (whatever - it was one week) 

500 push-ups (somehow continually cursing made these go faster)
Sleeping 7-8 hours a night ( ha ha ha ha ha ha - it's been over 2 decades since I put up those kind of sleep numbers)
A lot of V-ups (my abs, my abs, where the hell are my abs?)
20 minutes cardio 3 times a week (excluding gym time)
A jumpy, inchworm combo thingy for 5 minutes a day (total fail for me on this one - there are certain things one can do in a hotel room with a colleague - I felt this crossed the line)
1400 body weight squats (these were a pain in the butt... as they should be)
Ankle Grabs (I like these - I can do a lot in one minute, but in 2 and 3 and 4 minutes - UGH it's like time stood still and so did my core...but I ground them out while moaning loudly on the livingroom floor)
400 burpees (no words can describe my disgust at these but man my push ups are so much better than they were in week 1 - I have arm muscle bulges)

Anything I missed I must have blocked out.

But we DID do it - almost all of it... almost always together.

And some things will totally stick with us beyond the Challenge.  

Our water consumption is WAY up and more consistent. 

We have added spinach and protein powder to our normal morning smoothie and cut the orange juice making it a much healthier start to the day.  

We experimented with egg bites - egg/veggies and protein baked in muffin cups and then taken to work and reheated.  Allan loves them.  I cannot.  My egg pickiness cannot be overcome.

Our carbs are way down.  We cannot get through even a small loaf of bread.  The occasional bagel with peanut butter is still my comfort morning treat though. 

And beyond that we have much better awareness of good nutrition, the many ways sugar is hidden in everything, the muscles that hurt the most and the hate we have for burpees is unchanged. 

So today we measured and weighed in - we already knew we weren't going to see staggering numbers but we lost a couple pounds and a few inches between us.

When we got to the gym today - Coach Jeff walked over to congratulate us - we thought it was for surviving the Warrior Challenge but it wasn't... it was for being named the Clients of the Month at the Dojo - I choked right up and blinked really fast - to be recognised for the 66 weeks we have worked our butts off, through injury and pain, for having conquered some demons in trusting my body again, for having met so many incredible coaches and new friends and to be in the company of some of our greatest fitness inspirations, feels incredible.  

We couldn't be more grateful for this challenge, even the burpees and no beer week.   and all the support from our Coaches and Team mates #halusa!

We are warriors, even if only in our own minds... we have more battles to come ... I have yet to conquer the famed Hurricane class and we have aged bodies that still need a fair bit of conditioning.

But we are doing IT... one class, one day, one burpee ankle grab at a time.

Roar!!!