The Fit Family

The Fit Family

- Bruce Ham

When I was a kid, my mom put us in the yard at 8 a.m. in the summer, and we didn’t return until dinnertime. During the school year, it was 3-6 p.m. If it was cold, there were coats. If it was hot, shirts were optional.

We ran around the cul-de-sac at the end of Birkshire Road in Fayetteville for hours on end. We’d play tag, hide-and-seek or a game my brother made up called Boy-Land. That was when the boys chased the girls. Tracy McDonnell insisted on equal billing so we sometimes acquiesced and played Girl-Land, which was just as fun. It was one of the few times in my life that a female actually showed interest in catching me.

Sometimes we would just stand in the front yard and spin around in circles. Our lives were centered around physicality. We’d come home sweaty and tired — likely burning more calories than my mom could shove into us, and she shoved a lot!

That is not the case today. My three daughters would rather watch Netflix than breathe. A nine-season show is nothing to conquer over a five-day school break. That’s like 90 hours of TV!