Liar Liar pt.2

Yes it's true. My pants are on fire, and have been for some time. I have been lying about something pretty big for about 7 or 8 months now. This has nothing (or very little) to do with fitness, but is very personal to me. As many of you readers have been very open in sharing your lives with me, I now share some of my personal life with you. Before I go into all the details, a little history lesson.

In July of 1992, I met Denyse. There she was sitting in my apartment when I returned home from my late night security job. She was friends with my new roommates so when I came back to the apartment she was there with a group of her girlfriends just hanging out. She had recently graduated from UCLA, and I was still working on getting my degree. My roommates were all in a band, as was I at the time. We all took turns on the guitar, singing songs to impress the girls. Apparently I did a good job.

Denyse & Josh circa 1992

On August 13th 1992, we had our first date and first kiss. The date was easy to remember, because 5 years and 3 days later we were married. For those of you keeping track that was August 16th, 1997.

Yes, I had long hair - I got better

Fast forward 2 houses, 2 gyms 2 kids and 10 years later and here we are. That's 15 years together. I'm about to get sappy, so hold tight.... They say that behind every great man, there is a great woman. Well, I make no claims to be a great man, but whatever kind of man I am I owe all to her. She has given me support, hope and most of all love. She paid my rent when I was just starting out as a trainer and didn't have two dimes to rub together. She made me well when I was sick and made me laugh when all I wanted to do was cry. She put up with all my slobbish ways and managed not to kick me in the head when I was being a giant ass (which has been known to happen from time to time). It cannot be easy being a trainer's wife, yet she pulls it off with ease. She has also given me the greatest gift of all, my two sons Gabriel and Nathaniel. She has shown me what it is to be a good parent, and she continues to amaze me every day with the amount of love and caring she shows us all.

The Carter Boys

Ok, enough of the blubbering, on to the lying. One part I left out of my little story was that I proposed to Denyse on a beach in Hawaii at sunrise. I thought it only fitting that to celebrate out 10th anniversary we head back. The big lie: On Thursday August 16th (our actual anniversary), Denyse, Gabe, Nate and I are flying off to Kona for a week's vacation. Keeping this from her has been eating me up. I am not a good liar, and this has literally been keeping me up at night. By the way, this is our first real vacation in 6 years.

Me, Gabe and Denyse not too long ago

It was around last Christmas I began my plotting. I have had to involve many others in my scheme, and so far she has no clue. As I have had many months to put this together I have taken care of every conceivable aspect of the trip (I hope), from the hotel, car, flight and bendryl for the kids. This newsletter comes out August 15th, and this is when I will be springing it on her. My plan is to wake her nice and early and tell her she has 24 hours to pack. I expect she with both be excited and pissed. I can look forward to everything from "Thank you, I love you blah blah..." to " "Why the hell didn't you tell me you jerk...". Ah, this should be fun.

To beautiful wife Denyse, there are no words to thank you for all you have given me. Thank you for the best 15 years of my life.

Joshua Carter