Month: September 2020

2 Grandmas and A Microphone #2 The Environment.

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It all started this week when I watched a you tube video of Rich Roll and Erin Brockovich. As you know, Erin is the queen of clean drinking water. As a trainer and a health coach I tell my OutdoorFit ladies to drink lots of water. My goal is a gallon of water a day. I would like to think I am drinking good quality water. I have a filter under the sink and we also use water filter pitchers. After watching the video, I decided to check the quality of our drinking water through our water company’s website. Who knew their were so many chemicals in H2O? It was very overwhelming. I am looking into a water filter system for our house. I think it is very sad and disturbing that you can’t rely on the quality of your tap water.  We are fortunate that we can afford to buy water filters for cleaner water. What happens to the people who aren’t as fortunate?

I was at a small dinner party a few weeks ago. I asked for a glass of water. The host offered me bottled water. I said I am sorry but I try my best not to use single use plastic. “She said have you read your water bill? You don’t want to drink the tap water.” Single use plastic is a whole other conversation, isn’t it?

This brings me to 2 Grandmas and A Microphone #2 The Environment.  Time for more research, especially with the presidential election coming up. My main concern is the environment and climate change. Vicky Perry and I decided it was time to go deeper. In the past, I would never speak up about these issues. I am a 9 on the Enneagram which is the peacemaker. I don’t want to deal with conflict, but this is too important to stay quiet.

 

Here are links if you want to go deeper in the conversation.

The climate engagement advisor board webinar .

Kiss the Ground is streaming on Netflix.

Vicky’s source for where the candidates stand on climate change.

What is your biggest concern this election? I would love to hear from you!

Love,

Mary

 

“We can disagree without being disagreeable.”

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

 

2 Grandmas and a Microphone.

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It is strange to write the title 2 Grandmas and a Microphone, and know that I am talking about myself. When I think about OutdoorFit, women over 50 are my target market. Most of the women in my group are in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s! It is all quite incredible. Not all of them are Grandmas but they are in the age range. My job is to inspire these women to be fit and healthy. I know being strong, healthy and fit energizes  your life.

Last week, I had coffee with Vicky Perry who is a very wise Grandmother. We had such an interesting conversation, that Vicky encouraged me to write about it. I opened up about my feelings about voting, the presidential election, and why I couldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in the last election. I learned a lot about myself from writing the post. I ended the post writing about the power of the Grandmother, which is something I hadn’t thought much about before.

I received so many wonderful emails and comments about the post that I wanted to continue. I decided to ask Vicky to do a video with me to take our conversation even deeper. Vicky brought up the importance of taking the time to know your own values and to think about which candidate best represents those values.

I could have just as easily titled the video The Wisdom of The Grandmothers.

“My Mother told me to be a lady. And for her that meant  be your own person, be independent.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg

A powerful cup of coffee with a friend.

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Today, I had coffee with a friend. We sat on a bench overlooking a marina on the Shrewsbury River. I noticed there was a small boat with a Trump, “Make America Great” Flag. This started an interesting conversation about having a voice and voting.

I decided to open up to my friend. I knew she would still be my friend at the end of the story. It is not an easy one to tell. Here goes. President Trump has changed my life. I have never paid much attention to politics. To tell you the truth, most of the time I would ask my very smart husband who he was voting for. I would ask how are you answering the questions on the ballot. He would reply something like,Yes, Yes and No for the third one. I trusted Dan’s judgment. He is very detail oriented. I would usually vote the same way because I knew he had done his homework.

Dan and I didn’t agree on the Presidential election 4 years ago. There was a part of me that just couldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton. My friend asked me “why I couldn’t vote for her and I could vote for Trump”. That was a hard question to answer. I realized that I look to men for leadership more so than women, I am embarrassed to admit.  I was appalled when Hillary said you could put half of Trump supporters into the basket of deplorables. However, when Trump imitated a person with cerebral palsy and called people stupid I let that slide. Why? Do I expect more empathy and compassion from a woman? Probably so.

I have changed quite a bit in the past four years. I no longer ask my husband how he is voting. Dan was never comfortable with the situation. I guess he put up with it because he loves me.  I am no longer a Republican. I am now registered as an Independent. I don’t want to be affiliated with either party. I am paying attention. I care about this country. I care about climate change and renewable sustainable resources. I care about the quality of our food sources. I care about medical freedom and being able to choose what is best for my body.  I want a President with integrity who prioritizes all of those issues as well.

Knowledge can come from unexpected sources.  I am grateful that I have started to pay attention and I learn from my mistakes. It is important.

I will be open to voting for a woman. The best idea might just be to elect Grandmothers to run the world! A Grandmother is wise and knows how to speak her mind. She can be tough and would think long and hard before sending her grandson and granddaughter off to war. What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Love,

Mary

“A vote is never an intelligent vote when it is cast without knowledge. Just doing what someone else tells you to do without any effort to find out what the facts are for yourself is being a poor citizen.” Eleanor Roosevelt