Transformation - Part 2

...I'll always say clichés are clichés for a reason. Just like humor is humorous for a reason and insults are insulting for a reason.I've always fought like hell against aging and I could never figure out why. When I turned 30 I reasoned that it was because I sat on the sidelines for so long and was only now getting the confidence to be risky. But that confidence was only there at 30 because my daughter came when I was 28. The decision to take up running was 100% made because I couldn't let myself continue to eat triple cheeseburgers and extra large french fries day after day. That was the worst example for her and was slowly killing me. The hard part for me to realize was that even though I did good by her at the time by getting myself "healthy" she was still this symbol of dying youth that I never fully embraced until she and I were older. Yes, you read that right. My thinking was very faulty back then. Losing weight, running marathons, going back to college (but quitting again and again); it was all some housekeeping but just not enough housekeeping.There's a scene I distinctly remember - the first baby is out and he is taken to the incubator and he is so happily and defiantly sticking his tongue out at the entire operating room. Then 10 minutes later (my wife is an amazingly strong woman) the second child is out and he looks well; not quite as playful as the other but still very healthy and ok with the situation of being out in the world. The gravity of that moment will never leave me. All these people around me and my wife and my two new children were ready.I was ready too...I think...I hope...maybe...