Physical and Emotional Strength: Scarlett and Elizabeth's Journey.

“What are you doing?”

I looked up from the diagrams I was scribbling in my notebook and sighed. “Oh, hey Liz. I’m just trying to figure out how to make a power supply for this thing. What’s up with you?” I gestured to the box of spare parts she had resting on her hip.

She leaned back against the counter and shoved her hands in her pockets. “You…um…you know I’ve always been…like…really into fitness, right?”

I wrinkled my nose and nodded slowly. “Yeah, of course. You work out every day. It's nice to see someone who actually stays committed to exercising on a regular basis. Most people just want to get fit for a week or two so they look good at their Christmas party, but then they're back to eating burgers and fries after New Year’s. They say that it's an all-or-nothing deal when it comes to exercise and eating right, but...um...not that I have anything against burgers and fries! I mean, we've gotta live life while we can! But yeah, sometimes it would be nice if people could actually stick with it a little longer than a month or so. Even if they only went once a week or something like that."

Liz giggled happily and nodded. “Right? Totally! So what I wanted to ask you was if maybe you'd be interested in joining me? You can see how hard I work out every day, so maybe you'll be motivated! And then we can support each other as well! We could even start going together. I've been wanting to try strength training, but it's not something most people around here do because they assume that women should focus on cardio rather than lifting weights."

I frowned and shook my head slowly as Liz continued speaking. "Of course women should lift weights too! Honestly, there's no difference between how men's bodies look and how women's bodies look when we both work out the same way. So why shouldn't women lift weights if we want to? And plus, if more women lifted weights like you do then there'd be more role models for girls growing up today! There wouldn't be any reason why girls couldn't grow up thinking that they could do anything that boys could do!"

Liz smiled proudly at me and took another step towards me until she was standing very close to me at the countertop where I was seated. She tapped her finger against one of the diagrams in my notebook, causing some of the graphite powder from my pencil to drift onto the page. "Exactly! But honestly I don't think many people really get that message nowadays."

"Nope!" I shook my head vehemently. "They don't."

"So what do you think?" she asked softly after a moment of silence had passed between us. Her eyes were hopeful as they searched mine for an answer that she already knew what I wanted to say; that we would train together every day thereafter until death separated us from our mutual love of fitness and our even more mutual adoration of each other's beautiful bodies which would become only more body-like as time passed by...