Memory Lane, Part II . . .

This is my favorite place in time.  This statute or monument is located at the Bangor Cemetery in Bangor, ME.  Hubby and I lived in Bangor from June 1997 until September 1998.  We moved to Portland, ME in 1998.  During the one year of living in Bangor together, we were very physically active.  We started off walking toward the cemetery and walking around seeing the sites.  We did this every morning before work.  There were many beautiful trees and bushes.  Flowers that were left at the plots.  There were many veterans buried there and so there were many flags and memorials to the military heroes.  I recall even running during light rain showers.

I loved this place because it was a place where I started running and focusing on my fitness.  I'd joined a gym in which I would go to weight train.  I'd changed my diet to follow Dean Ornish because my immediate supervisor, a married mother of two, had two heart attacks at age 36 (the age I am now).  I shopped at the food coop.  I ate tofu, beans, brown rice; and packed my lunches.  I recall running in the morning, and still going to the gym after work and doing more cardio and weight training.  There were often instances where I met up with "future" hubby at the gym on University of Maine's campus.  My favorite gym was about a mile away from my office.  I can still remember the buxom, bleach blonde owner who was so gracious and committed to offering amazing services.  It was in a big warehouse with large garage doors.  Industrial.  I loved the atmosphere and the members.

On my last day in Bangor, we went out for a run and I took pictures of the things that I loved seeing along our jogging trail.

This tombstone always made me laugh.  And we literally, did slow down when we were passing it because it was our cool down point, nearing our rental home.  Once I moved to Portland, I tried to continue physical activity, but the stress of law school and having my future hubby commute for a year and then move to New York during our first year of marriage caused the mental break toward weight gain.  I started eating my feelings again.  I stopped exercising consistently; even with Weight Watcher's visits.  I stopped focusing on me. 

I moved to New York for my third year of law school and activity was sparse.  I wasn't as happy with the setting or the lifestyle that we were creating there.  I felt like something was missing or lost. 

I am still trying to recapture this memory of a time when it was about me taking charge of my health and fitness, like I did in College; and in Bangor.