Alison, thanks for this thread, it is probably the best thread on the forum. I love your recollections and opinions, as well as the old and new photos. You and your husband were very lucky to forge a partnership early in life.
Can you tell me how the two of you met and how your relationship progressed? How did you decide to get married and what do you think is the secret to a successful marriage?
Ha ha ha .....OK true Confessions.
First , thanks for the kind words. I firmly believe that their should be more gals sharing their lives and adventures in bodybuilding.
1. I had graduated college and was staying with my retired parents in Florida. Bored out of my gourd I went up to my college (Florida State University) to party with some of my old friends. One of my crazier fiends gave me my husband's name and phone #. He knew my husband lived close by where I was staying and that he could show me what there was to do around there..and as well find me some good pot. ( those were the days !) It was a blind date. We enjoyed each other's company and as well the weed. In 6 months we were married.
2 We had similar interests....all except my flying airplanes. Bill wasn't too wild about that. At the time I was learning aerobatics and enjoying flying to isolated places with grass strips. Very shortly my love for my husband...and the weed took over my flying. That was the end of that (laughing)
3. We both had simple jobs. I worked as a Public Health Nurse and he worked for the road department. He had a good friend who came back from an extended trip to Colombia and shared his tales and pictures. We saved our money and took off. We eventually did some surfing on the coast of Ecuador ( that's where I started) ...and ended up back in Colombia buying a hut up in the mountains. ( $1600 for 2.5 acres of land and a simple brick house, no running water nor electricity). We stayed there for a bit over a year and went back to save $ and do it again...the next time down to Peru. That's where we began riding big waves and enjoying that together. We made the decision to move to Hawaii. Lived most of our adult life in Hawaii. We surfed every day together and worked night jobs.
4. Bodybuilding came along as a fluke. We were both in our 30's and feeling a bit "older" and out of shape. A friend conned us into joining a gym. now my thoughts on that were the picture of some dark smelly hole where men grunted and being surrounded by smelly towels and jockstraps on hooks on the wall. (laughing) "Oh no she said...it's not like that. Gyms have carpeting, are airconditioned and it's cool to be a girl in the gym" OK so we did the 3 day a week thing. Got some lifting helps from some of the old fart gym guys who didn't want us to hurt ourselves. That led to meeting one of the best Olympic and general lifting trainers on Oahu....Steve Dussia. He helped me along
5. We ended up constructing a Rube Goldberg gym in Steve's backyard out of stop sign pipes and other gym equipment Steve had. We had a power rack and some crazy good pulleys all rigged together into machines he made for me out of levers and pulleys. From then on that's where we all trained. He conned me into my first contest and from then on I won every contest I entered in Hawaii ( more than I can remember). I did the Gold's classic and nationals twice. We all had a great time for as long as it lasted.
6. All this time Bill and I surfed and lifted together daily, still keeping night jobs., We did this until 2007 when we sold everything there and retired to the Rep of Panama. A great place to retire BTW ! We still lift, and we go to the coast 1-2 weeks a month depending upon the swells. Panama has some great surf.
7. Enjoying the things we do together and each other's company I believe was the core of our success. We love travel and have done quite a bit of that too. Some things change...like we no longer drink alcohol ( rarely maybe a drink) and we don't smoke weed now. We became Christians over 15 years ago and enjoy that together as well...reading the bible together outloud daily...him a chapter, me a chapter. Takes us about 8 months to get through...then we start again.
8. We have always kept life simple. We elected not to have children-. Never had more debt than a mortgage, saved our money and invested it. Retired when Bill was 58 and I was 62. We've lived in the Rep of Panama now for 8 years.
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Login The early married hippy era......70's
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LoginMy flying airplanes era ...short lived The man I fell in love with...who hated airplanes and loved his weed. It was an easy choice to give up airplanes!
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LoginLiving in So Colombia 70's Bill & buddy making a balsa surfboard, Ecuador 70's
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LoginEcuador surfing together 70's
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LoginBodybuilding era. Had our own tee shirts for our backyard gym...the Deltoid house. Mid 80's
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LoginHawaii surfing 80's to 2007
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LoginGrowing old in Panama....surfing
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LoginHaving fun together in the mountains of Panama...retired Yard care......Panama.
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LoginBill's book. A collection of all the crazy stories about growing up and getting old. Bill ( and Homer Simpson) observes that the pants get higher with each
passing decade
Soooooo...there you have it. Have fun together no matter what you do. Keep life simple. A sense of humor helps...Bill has a real good one.
Alison