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07/11/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn  Murphy Mark

A funny thing happened…

I am on a quest these days, one that has to do with something of a makeover. At age 75, everything is a little harder than when I was younger. I mean, I used to be able to shed pounds in no time and work my body as hard as I could at a gym. I’ve belonged to many such establishments and been a very faithful exerciser. In my little twisted thinking mind, the calories I burned at the gym equaled the goodies I could consume that weren’t on my diet, but that’s for another blog.

I freely admit that in many ways over the last few years I have let myself go. The scale has been merciless in its honesty. There’s no denying the numbers, other than to fool myself with some kind of reassurance that my home scale weighs heavier than the one at the doctor’s office. Not sure what sense that exactly makes, since I don’t visit my doctor more than twice a year most years. But, hey, somewhere in there is some logic.

I’m planning a trip to Santa Fe in September and the last few visits have been a little rough for me in terms of my breathing. After all, there is altitude to contend with and maybe a scintilla less oxygen at that height. When I lived there, I could exercise vigorously on my elliptical and not feel a thing. Like I said, at 75 things are different. However, the real reason for my troubles has to do with how I have let myself become fairly out of shape.

Thus my quest. I have been pretty faithful this last year at walking half an hour a day. I have re-learned the benefits of any kind of exercise and I know very well that my day just feels more complete if I’ve had at least 30 minutes of some kind of movement. But just walking isn’t going to prepare me for any kind of gentle hiking at 8,000 feet.

Lately I have been visiting the very convenient work out room at our condo. It is less than 100 steps from my living room to the room that has weights, and treadmills, and two ellipticals, always my favorite go-to machines. I am building up time spent by adding a minute a day and increasing the level of difficulty one notch a day. Today I’ll be up to 35 minutes at level 5. I’m slow, but steady and I work up a good sweat.

My favorite part of exercise is the music that I have blasting through my ear buds. The louder the better. And my workout singing buddies are the classics. Aretha Franklin, Bob Seeger, Ozomatli, James Taylor, Dixie Chicks, Stevie Wonder, and Lyle Lovett, to name a few. Music makes the time fly. And my body moves in rhythm, mostly. I love all of my workout playlists for the energy and fun they give me as I sweat it out. 

The funny thing that happened, the thing that cracked me up, was listening to the lyrics of a couple of my favorite Lyle Lovett songs. Somehow my mind wandered onto the subject of what kind of playlist I want for my memorial service. In the past I have thought that playing all of Handel’s Messiah would do just fine. But yesterday, I changed my mind. There are two of Lyle’s songs whose words sum up what it has been like to be me. One goes like this:

“I’ve had an excellent time so far. There’s only one thing that I fear – I’ve been up so long on this lucky star…it could be all downhill from here…” The other send-off song is a silly, makes-no-sense one. “If I had a boat, I’d go out on the ocean. If I had a pony, I’d ride him on my boat…kiss my ass, I bought a boat, I’m going out to sea!” The thought and the words made me laugh out loud.

No worries, I don’t think this will happen any time soon. But at 75? Quien sabe? So I want people to know that I’ve had a wonderful ride, and that I’m going out to the greatest sea of all when I leave here. This makes me smile.