The Citizen's esteemed associate editor, Mick Kearns, will cringe again and regret letting me offer up this blast from the past, but I just can't help it.
I am a child of the disco era and powerful women with incredibly strong messages sang to me during all kinds of preteen and teenage angst.
Gloria Gaynor is at her best in I Will Survive, a story of moving onward and upward.
When this song was revisited by one of my all-time favourite exercise video gurus, it motivated me to reach a new fitness level.
Richard Simmons makes me smile and he has I Will Survive on a DVD where we're all huffing and puffing to the oldies for some inspiration.
It works for me, and I challenge anyone not to smile - for whatever reason - when they watch Richard Simmons lead the troupes in the battle of the bulge.
After I had each of my children I needed get back into shape quick to keep up with them and Simmons, with his encouraging words and lively enthusiasm, was just what I needed to be all that I could be.
And now quite a few years after having those babies, I am fortunate enough to be chasing after a precious grandchild, once again being inspired to be more fit. I want to be less stuck-in-the-rocker granny and more try-to-keep-up-with-her-as-she's-running-to-be-first-in-line-for-the-roller-coaster-at-Disneyland grandma. That's right, and with Richard Simmons help I will be the hip, cool grandma on that coaster, waving her hands in the air like she just don't care! Woot! Woot!
Here's Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive circa 1979, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SxqJsYFL-Q
