Getting from Here to There with Excess Baggage

So one of the lovely details about modern commercial flying is the baggage and deciding between carrying on and checking the luggage.  There was a time I avoided checking bags no matter what items I might have to go without.  But the security demands that dictate the liquids you carry and the apparent threat of one's shoes now have converted me.....especially when like today I am packing a week's worth of stuff.  And, though I may concede the $25 fee I am not about to hand over another $60 for exceeding the weight restriction.  So there I am at 3:45am weighing first myself and then hoisting the huge suitcase so I can weigh us both.  My husband has to check the display because if I move at all to see the screen the scale will just read "error."  I have to hold the bag vertically to stay still and it's extremely hard for me to basically upright row such an unwieldy thing and stay motionless so he can check.  But, I manage it for the 2-3 seconds we need and happily we confirm that the suitcase is just under the limit.  I am grateful when I can set it down and just wheel it to the car.  But, then it occurs to me that even though I applied all my muscle to hold it- the combined weight of me and the suitcase is still 45 pounds less than what I once weighed alone-about as much as the bag weights today.  So, I regularly carried more than twice that much around every minute with no breaks and far less muscle.  Somehow the fleeting burdens of my travels seem inconsequential now.  And, if TSA inspects further they'll find that getting from here to there takes running shoes, trail shoes, hiking boots, a baseball for massage, The Stick and a jump rope for a girl like me to make it all the way to Sedona.