Sidekicks

It is my understanding that every hero needs a sidekick. Batman had Robin after all. I suppose if I am to be considered a hero of sorts, championing the broken road known as health and fitness, I guess you could say I have a fairly unlikely sidekick. My relationship with this guy began almost 20 years ago. I was 80 miles northwest of Moscow sitting in an orphanage where the heat was up so high in the dead of winter I thought I would sweat to death. The workers brought me this little starving baby we would name Jack and claim as our very own. When we got home I found this seven month old to be only 14 pounds. He was too weak to cry or roll over. He was fairly lifeless. The pediatrician at home sat me down and somberly explained,"you realize this baby will not be OK don't you?"  I explained to him he would be fine. He just needed a mommy and some food. He looked at me like I was nuts. As a nurse practitioner now for 16 years in retrospect, I likely would have said the same if I were in his shoes. I brought Jack back five weeks later. He had gained weight and completely caught up developmentally by then. He has been absolutely better than OK since.

Over time, he would grow into my mini me in a lot of ways. Of my five children, all adopted, this was my daredevil. Flips over a flight of stairs at the age of ten that would ultimately lead to a brilliant competitive career as a power tumbler and trampoline gymnast. Later, that skill set  turned into collegiate cheerleading. At the same time, he was still close with his mama. My partner in crime for movie nights and crazy reality TV. The guy who brought me ice water and had my husband drive him to the movie store to pick something out when I had my hysterectomy just so he could hang out with me in my recovery. When we moved to NY two years ago we found a gym we liked. That summer he knew nobody here and neither did I, so we started going to the gym. I walked while he ran and over time things got easier for me physically. Frankly, I was happy to squeeze out the last little bit of time before he left for school. As the days dwindled and my baby was leaving he one day looked at me and said,"mom. Promise me you will keep this up."  Jack keeps his emotional side close. I will never forget the look on his face or the tone in his voice. In that moment, I realized it was one thing to let myself down. Hell. I was good at that. To let him down though..... That was something different entirely.

I kept going even after he moved out, and later I would have that fateful conversation regarding my place in the familial pecking order mentioned in another post, to continue my motivation. The good news was, although my baby was gone, he was not far. He goes to school about 25 minutes away. When I started going to Orange Theory I remember telling him about it as by this point he had become the guy I was accountable to for all things exercise.  I begged him to try it with me. He kinda chuckled. He was a collegiate cheerleader. Lifting. Training. His comment,"ok, but I feel like it won't be that bad". He came with me and was surprised at the intensity. He loved it. This led to event number one. A dry Tri. As in a dry triathlon. He and I were going to do it. 2000m of rowing, 300 body weighted exercises followed by a 5k. I signed us up completely convinced I could not do this. Yet his original,"promise me" conversation played over and over in my head. How could I tell him no?  I couldn't. The day came. I was nauseated that morning as I was terrified of making a fool out of myself. Terrified of letting him down. It had been a full year and 40 pounds after the original promise. Yet was terrified. I could not run the 5k. My hip hurt by then. I power walked it and was the last one done. However, the last half mile, my sidekick who had long since finished his own race hopped back on the treadmill and ran with me while I finished, always my biggest supporter. I remember being grateful to him and another training friend who did the same. This is where the dim lights of orange theory came in handy. The tears were not visible and likely confused for sweat.   Following this we would go on to do another race, Color Me Rad a few weeks later. Again, my sidekick pushing me through as we got doused in color. I could not run as fast as him but he did not seem to mind. In a few weeks we race again for the first time this season and for the first time since breaking my hip. Look out five mile mud run. We are ready for you!

Since then we have trained together many times. Him cheering me on as I got back to running and me watching his wattage on the rower as I try to beat him, and for the record I often do. Nonetheless, for his whole life I always hear how "lucky" he is that I "saved" him from the orphanage.  I was a hero.  Well?   thereality is at this point I think he has become the hero and is saving me, rather than him being my sidekick. I suppose I have now become the Robin to his Batman. The good news is he is a starving college student and I do not need to send up the bat signal to get him here. I just need to light the grill and summon him with paleo friendly dinner and maybe dangle his Orange Theory monitor in front of him.