It's an arduous task for me to make my 15-year-old exercise, and by that I mean, to get him to do a physical activity of any kind. Physical fitness is clearly not his forte, while his mental agility is a thing well-known to his teachers and peers. If folding his jeans and putting away his clothes in the wardrobe, or throwing the soda cans or juice boxes in the recycling bin, or putting the cap back on the tube of toothpaste can be the most strenuous kinds of physical activity he has to be coaxed into doing, you can very well imagine about making him walk on the treadmill or getting him to swim twenty laps in the pool! Exercise is anathema to him and so is Mom's constant reminder ("nagging" to him!) regarding the same!
Imagine my incredulity and wondrous surprise when I returned from work one day to find him lifting weights in his room! "Who are you, and what did you do to my son?" I asked this stranger in my house. The kid calmly continued with the lifting, and with an enigmatic smile, got on to the treadmill next. I almost had a heart attack when he proceeded to run, not just walk, on the Nordic Track! The husband came home from work just then, and rubbed his eyes in wonder at the scene. He raised his eyebrows in query at me, to which I could just shrug my shoulders in bewilderment and shock. The kid next unrolled the yoga mat I had bought the previous week, lay on his back and started to do some sit ups to make that waistline trim. I jumped at the chance, rushed to the kitchen and cut up some veggies for him - broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, snow peas, red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers, asparagus, and spinach - which he dutifully ate without protest. Now if you know my son, the chicken lover, seeing him eat vegetables is like witnessing the end of the world!
I happened to post this apocalyptic event as a status update on Facebook, and many of my friends who responded seemed to think that this sea change in him was because of a girl. Could it be so, I mused?!? Amy said that this sudden interest in his personal appearance screamed "GIRL", and so did the others! It was quite incomprehensible to me how a girl could work magic so quickly while the parents had been at him, begging him, and cajoling him to do the same for so long! Did my son, the nerd, get swept off his feet, or was he trying to impress some girl he had a crush on? I secretly scoured his Facebook pages for clues, but there were none. The husband and I went to bed bewildered if there was indeed some girl in the background, but hoping anyways that the miracle would be sustained for some time till he lost those few unwanted pounds.
Come morning, I found the kid dressing to go to school. He had worn an old pair of jeans that were a little short and riding at his ankles. "Don't you want to change those pants?" I asked, and continued, "The girls might find those outgrown pants ridiculous, you know!" He turned and gave me one hard look and said, "So? Who cares about girls! They're stupid!" My son was back!
Ladies and Gentleman, the case is closed ...FOR NOW!!!
P.S.
The exercise is continuing though, and there's no girl ...YET! LOL!!!
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