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Our Neighbors Speak
The Morrisville and Preston Progress, Wednesday, November 29,1995 - 3
The population of the Triangle exceeded one million in November. What impact
has the rapid growth of this area had on your life?
CHRIS BURNS
PRESTON
With the growth there is less
and less wilderness, but if you
want the outdoors, there are
places five minutes down the
street that you can go to.
DAVID BURROUGHS
PRESTON
This place used to be a forest
and now it’s grown. It’s nice that
we have a grocery store right
around the corner, but all the
subdivisions and shopping cen
ters look the same.
ANTHONY LEE
MORRISVILLE
I’ve lived here all of my life and
I used to deer hunt all the time.
The growth around here has
made it so that there's not many
places to hunt anymore. Also
the traffic is worse.
ELLA KINSLOW
MORRISVILLE
The growth kind of pushes you
to the back burner. Even though
there are more convenient
places to go, people don’t have
any respect for seniors any
more.
CHARLES KINSLOW
MORRISVILLE
Today, people ignore folks my
age. They don’t want to service
you. They just want your money.
JEREMY SIGLER
PRESTON
The school classes are a lot
larger. That’s good because you
have more people to talk to and
go places with.
Battle with weight gain leads to not-so-pleasant strategies
By Roxanne Powers
Nine months ago I quit smoking.
After smoking for more than 20
years, I never really believed I
could quit. However, I was
detOTnined to give it my best shot,
and if that meant I mi^t gain 10
pounds, well, so be it: I’d work it
off later.
Imagine my surprise when three
weeks after quitting, I hardly ever
thought about smoking and I hadn't
gain^ an ounce! I was so angry at
all those martyrs who claimed toey
still had cravings 10 years after
they quit smoking, and without
even consuming a calorie more,
gained 10 pounds overnight. ”Oh
sure," I thought smugly, "Those
people are probably raiding their
kids’ gummy bear jars and break
fasting on bonbons." Th^ night I
dreamed about gummy bears and
bonbons, and when I stepped on the
scales the next morning I was 10
pounds heavier. No sweat! I was
sure that if I just started walking,
and weighed myself again in a
month, I would find I was in better
shape than ever. In the meantime, I
also "gained” sleep disorder and
was unableTo sleep for more than
jwo to .areeliours at a time.'Along
with excess pounds and the sle^
deprivation, in crept a state of
weepiness.
One month later found me walk
ing up to four brisk miles a
day...and another 10 pounds
heavier. I kept walking until it was
too hot at even 5:30 or 6 in the
morning. I also kept gaining. Final
ly, I did what any self-respecting
person who’d ever been more than
10 pounds overweight would do. I
gave up on exercising until fall. I
quit gaining, but I still wasn’t
losing either...so I cut my hair
hoping that the loss of a few ounces
would fool my scales into thinking
"we" were finally going into
reverse. I even tried moving the
scale around to different spots on
the bathroom floor. No luck.
Finally, in desperation, I went to
my doctor who drew blood to rule
out problems pertaining to too
many white blood cells, or even
"too many" hormones. (I guess
hormones and white blood cells
weigh a lot!) The only weight I lost
was the green papery kind, but
money doesn’t register on the
scales.
The doctor decided that my sleep
lessness and weepiness were in
dications of depression and put me
on anti-depressants. One month
later I still wasn’t sleeping, and still
hadn’t lost weight, but I had devel
oped almost constant headaches,
and an aversion to my husband’s
hugs. Needless to say, I ditched the
anti-depressants.
Some friends suggested that I
drink lots of water to rid myself of
impurities. I did that, but every
where I went, people knew I was
coming before I got there (slosh,
slosh, slosh), and they seemed to
lire of my standard greeting of, "Hi,
how are you doing? Can I borrow
your bathroom?" I decided that no
one could possibly have that many
impurities.
I read about the virtues of
chromium picolinate and vitamin
therapy, iuid went to the health
food store. I came home with a gro
cery bag full of items such as
chromium, B complex, E, lecithin,
oat bran tablets, etc. I even
searched to no avail for a recom
mended edible-grade linseed oil.
Then I remembered that some
nutrients interfere with the absorp
tion of other nutrients, so I began to
space my vitamins about an hour
apart. However, all the traffic back
and forth to the medicine cabinet
made me dizzy.
I bought a loofa to bathe with,
thinking that a vigorous daily
scrubbing with it might create
enough friction to "melt" some of
those extra plump little fat cells just
beneath the surface of the skin. I
don’t know what my dermatologist
would have to say about that, but I
could swear those fat cells are still
smirking. In fact, my thighs began
to sport so many dimples that those
little "boogers" must have been
smiling ear to ear!
Many women who have given
away all their matOTiity clothes can
attest to how effective that act of
generosity is in guaranteeing a
pregnancy. In fact. I’ve often
wondered why couples with fertil
ity problems don’t just buy a bunch
of maternity clothes and give them
away before spending thousands
with fertility specialists. Anway, as
you’ve probably guessed, I have
given away all my "8’s" and "lO’s”
and grudgingly bought cheap size
"12s." I went the cheap route be
cause of course it won’t be long be
fore I would be back into the small
er sizes.
September crept up on me and
still I hadn’t lost an ounce. I de
cided it was time to put myself in
the hands of (GASP!!!) Morrisville
resident "Killer" Jan Kirkendall.
This personal uainer and Cary
Athletic body sculptor may appear
to be an innocuous Pochahontas
look-alike, but in fact, she is known
for her vicious one-hour workouts
so I sought reinforcement by con
vincing another Morrisville resi
dent to join me. Shortly after
warming up she informed us that
we would begin working with the
Abductors. I said, "That’s nice, but
who are they?" Killer Kirkendall
barked, "On the floor! Abductors to
the ceiling! Navel to the spine! Toe
to the forehead! Point, flex, point,
flex! Hold in those abs! Breathe!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who do you
think you are? I’m from
Texas...you know that place where
they say everything’s bigger? In
cluding ^s? Are you trying to say
you want me to suck in these abs
and breathe at the same..."
"On the floor, Powers, let’s
work!"
"Yes ma’am..."
October rolls around and then
November. Neighbors have ob
viously noticed that the Roxanne
working her fall garden is more
substantial than the Roxanne who
worked her spring garden because
some of them are sending weight
loss suggestions to me through my
kids. While their concern and sug
gestions are sincerely appreciated,
they must not know that I could
quote the fat grams and calories
contained in the skin of a Spanish
peanut. That I can recognize a car
bohydrate in any disguise. That
I’ve tried all the polyunsaturated
fats and decided I’d rather be a
buck during bow season than to eat
them.
About this time I caved in and
bought a couple of expensive
"12’s". (Expensive because the
pricier clothing manufacturers
know that some of us shoppers are
willing to pay more for a label that
lies and tells us and anyone else
who happens to spot our labels, that
we’re a size smaller than we really
are.)
But this is IT, I tell myself. I’ll
take the stuffing out of my sofa
cushions and wear them before I’ll
buy another article of clothing
largM’ than a 10.1 stORjed "watch
ing” what went into my mouth and
began counting. After 1300 calaries
are consumed. I’m back to slosh
ing.
I’ve added another two hours a
week of workouts vrith Channel 5’s
Donna Gregory. She is one who is
tough to keep up with, but I could
have sworn that I saw a flicker of
compassion in her eye the other day
when she looked into my reddish
purple face with white lips...until
she nonchalantly asked, "Can you
stay and work out another 15
minutes?"
Panicked that I wouldn’t even last
another two minutes, I felt my
Adam’s apple slip down into my
left kneec^. When we finished, I
began to hallucinate that everyone
around us saw me as the coyote and
her as the roadrunner.
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also ★BROADWAY BABIES* classes
DANCING, SINGING. & ACTING for 3 1 /2-6 yr. olds
classes starting in January at
Caiy (School of Ballet
PRESTON CORNERS (High House Rd. & Cory Parkway)
481-6509
call for brochure
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