Embrace Your Destiny: Apprendre Français

Sightseeing at WWII Museum

First trip to Paris, we were ignorant tourists. Liz was our guide and navigator. Second trip, we were staying with Liz in Aix.  She was teaching at the university and we were on our own during the day.  I loved Aix and learning about artists who painted there. We went to notable towns and museums and saw lots of antiquity around the Provence Region. Liz planned our itinerary for each day. Over dinner, we reported on all we saw. Somehow, we muddled our way through adventures to Avignon, Nîmes, Saint Remy, Pont du Gard, Marseille, and Arles.

Donnie’s high school French served us well. I was no help at all, but our incompetence did plant a seed in my mind,“Perhaps you should get serious about learning French. Liz will likely spend a lot of time over here with her goals for French.“ I couldn't hear the sounds to correctly say words. My processing time too slow to even do fundamental greetings.

 

Embrace Your Destiny: Find a Hobby

Wedding gift for friend Heather

“Quilting? I don’t know. I’ve always thought of quilting as being something old people do. On the other hand, do you think they would teach me? It fits with my interests  so it could work. Maybe I’ll call to check it out.” This was my end of a conversation with Donnie about quilting as a new hobby.

 

I wanted to find a new hobby that would stimulate my mind and creativity and that could be useful. I wasn't interested in anything that would need lots of new equipment or be real expensive.  Living in North Topsail Beach posed other problems. I didn't want to spend a lot of time driving somewhere and I wasn't sure where to even look for a workshop. I was at loose ends.

Embrace Your Destiny: Hard Work Pays Off

Working at the big cable machine

I have been working with a trainer at Gold's Gym for fourteen months. Lacey Blanton worked with me thirteen of those months on my goals of strengthening core,  posture and of course, walking. She has passed me on to another trainer who she says can take me to the next level.
Evan Camboy is my new trainer. In my first session, he began by  analyzing what I can do to determine where we needed to begin. Not surprisingly he identified the same issues of abduction, core strength, and leg strength that Lacey had been concentrating on.