I would guess that my husband and I are akin to some other couples with our pattern of gradual weight gain and gradual exercise loss with age. We recall with fondness our pre-children days when we played tennis every evening. Now we play tennis twice a year.
We finally faced the facts about expanding hips and waists and set-up some new dining rules. Rule one, second helpings must not exceed first helpings in quantity. Rule two, no eating out of the cooking pots during clean-up. Rule three, we will discuss all menu choices prior to ordering dinner in restaurants to settle on the best low fat choice for the taste.
One evening we had just finished a health conscious meal, tucked our children into bed and were dragging our tired bodies to bed when we spotted Ken on the edge of our whirlpool bath. He was the new Dolphin Ken left by our son who had played with him in the tub at bath-time. He was the Dolphin Ken with brown plastic hair without a touch of gray all in perfect plastic place. His neatly tailored bathing outfit with matching top and bottom had dried without a wrinkle. His long perfectly proportioned hairless rubber legs ended in fluorescent yellow flippers from his snorkeling accessories.
My husband and I were not bothered so much by his dress as his attitude. He had been left in a half sit-up position. Both arms were stretched out straight over his head. His head and back were raised off the tub edge at a 30 degree angle with a slight bend at the waist. He appeared to have been frozen at that moment of the sit-up where the abdominal muscles are taut to receive maximum benefit from the exercise. No earthly man could have endured it, but there was Ken stuck for hours with a perfect smile on his handsome face. No wonder he and Barbie never fuss over second helpings.