Happy Dad's day----St. Louis Post-Dispatch is running article on NFOF today--it's just now the 16th! This day is hard for me because I do not even know if my dad is alive or where he is. Yes I could OVER- EAT over that fact. Topping the "pretty-darn-sad" cake is fact number 2: my brother was a great dad for the whole 2-3 years he was one, until he was killed in car accident-- I do not even get to send him a card. Man--I wish I could. YES I could OVER EAT, OVER that too! It has taken me more than half of my life to figure out that it is okay to be sad. You do not have to forget about it, you do not have to try and pretend that the absence doesn't hurt like hell.

It's like this grinding, gritty gouge in your soul---some say "this too shall pass" and " time heals all wounds" ---
bull--- what I do believe is that time helps you accept and put sad things in perspective (be it negative or positive) --I do believe that the passing is healing in itself--whatever form healing may take---in Cast Away (the movie) Tom Hankes is recounting his lack of control when he's faced with fact he can not even end his life the way he wants--and he says this warm feeling comes over him and he knows what he has to do---keep breathing---survive--hope is a good thing--

--I also know that no matter how we feel---we choose what we will do to help the hurt. Sometimes helping the hurt is really just coating it over so we do not think we feel it so deeply--coating with drugs, alcohol, compulsiveness, abusiveness--hard to remember that coating pain is not feeling it--we can't really go forward when we simply "coat" the pain. But then you and I know coating the pain is far from simple. My next thought is, but I do not want to feel this hole, this gouge in my soul---so stuffing my face is a better alternative?--Good Lord-NO!

That puts more hurt on top of the hurt in the long run. Then I know what I must do----say a prayer--keep breathing---and reach out to use a healthy tool to help ease the pain. Feel it, do not fight it, then DO SOMETHING HEATHLY AND NURTURING FOR YOU to help you THROUGH it. Do not stay there in the sad place--reach out to someone else and practice a random act of kindness for no apparent reason. (It will be apparent to you and I--maybe not to the person(s) receiving it).

So today to get through my pain I went for bike ride with my new face pals, took my younger son to lunch and a haircut and blockbuster, then invited my newsletter editor and wife to dinner, got some new workout shoes and some for the kids dad for dad's day, and watched a movie with my youngest.

Now I am thinking how lucky, how grateful I am to have such a killer husband and two awesome boys and hey---one of the three closest men in my life is a dad! A wonderful one at that! I HAVE MUCH TO CELEBRATE --MY SADNESS MUST GO PLAY!

" Let there be windows in your soul, That all the glory of the universe may beautify it.-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

TGFF--Thank goodness for fitness---so Friday is the day we are suppose to wind down to prepare for the weekend-right? Happy Dad's day--we are going for bike ride with New Face pals at Oakhurst Park---fun fun fun--
Good humor is one of th best articles of dress one can wear in society. -- William Makepece Thacheray

Hey there-- I am new, blonde and relatively clueless about all the cool cyberspace stuff one can do---but--I will prevail and get this all down--one way or another-----thought for the day from one of my faves----" I like laughter that opens the lips and the heart, that shows at the same time pearls and the soul.----Victor Hugo
Hugo ROCKS!

Okay--so I get excited when I teach a room filled with glistening body's--we are all moving and shaking--chanting our New Face chants-like: "Exercise Works" , " Something is better than nothing" Okay so I whistle right in the microphone--Okay so I put music up so we can hear it and jam while we move--In over 10 years of teaching all over our fine country to all kinds of people in all kinds of places--I have had small to no occasions of complaints---

But tonight there was this one lady who comes in to workout--NOT WITH US--mind you, just on machines on the other side of the room and she has written nasty letters about "Dee and her group" being so loud -- she even came up to me once in a far-from-nice-tone and demanded I turn the mic down--Her complaining of ONE wouldn't, couldn't, and shouldn't counter balance the party of 40 plus New Face members--MY INPUT--do not come when we have class--I mean (for Pete's sake) it is one hour three nights a week---if you can't handle the heat get out of the flippin' kichen---still she persists on coming right during our class--

Tonight, while the Chicago Tribune was with us taking pictures for upcoming article--here comes
MISS Complain-o! One of my members motions to me " it's okay- she's wearing earplugs." Now I am in front of the class and I am thinking, this is just Patsy being funny as she often times is--as Miss Complain-o rounds the track--THERE THEY ARE THE BIGGEST PINKEST STICKIN' OUT OF YOUR EARS LIKE 14 SORE TOENAILS GLOW IN THE FLIPPING DARK EARPLUGS---My Gosh they did not even go with her workout outfit!!! GEEZ LOUISE--WHAT IS UP WITH THAT! I not only laughed out loud, I could barely finish my class---it was the most hysterical thing I have seen in quite a while. She had the grimest look on her face with these out to there earplugs just a walkin' that track---HEY whatever works eh? If ya can't beat 'em--plug the mothers OUT! LOL Man ya shoulda been there----Later my dear ones---- Dee

Greetings! Am I excited about our new DeeGab area? Say YES Dee---this will be my thoughts to you-information, stupid stuff, fun stuff of course, activity stuff--and other stuff--I am thrilled to have new wonderful ninja's with me in cyberspace, with the website and newsletter! Thanx to Wayne and Brian! Stay tuned for more groovy features! Chicago Tribune will be running a story on New Face and I will give more Deetails when I know more. Sunday, Dad's day issue of the St.Louis Post-dispatch will also be running article on the program there! Let me know what you thought of the article in this month's Health Magazine if you care to! Remember----TRYING is succeeding! NO MATTER WHAT! Tho't for TODAY! -- "Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one place! ---J.Billings Lovee's Dee