Errrrt!

Halfway through my Dana model sheet, I had the brakes temporarily put on my newfound enthusiasm by an erratic (and loooong) work schedule the last few days (including the weekend) but my enthusiasm remains. After all, I need something to take my mind off my new diet. I threw in the towel and am now trying to lose weight the old fashioned way. Exercise alone wasn't doing it and all the weight training is just putting on muscle but not taking off the other stuff. Two days in and I'm chewing off my fingers. It'll get better, though. It always does. I'm an old hand at this.



I did want to post, though, about my parents. A week ago, Suzanne and I met them down in Greenville, NC at the home of their lifelong friends Billy Wilson and his wife Betty. Both couples were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversaries and they wanted us to do it with them. Conveniently and happily, Suzanne's sister Jennifer and her family live nearby and we stayed with them. I'll be honest. I was sort of dreading the trip. For one thing, my back was finally starting to feel good again and I was afraid the drive down and a weekend in a strange bed would put me right back where I started. For another, I was also worried that another family milestone without Mike would put us all back into depression. The former turned out to not to be a problem at all. In fact, I came out feeling even better at the end of the weekend. The latter, while certainly on everyone's mind, didn't put a damper on anyone's spirits for long. Dad mentioned Mike's absence as one of his life's great regrets but quickly moved his speech to the group in a more upbeat direction. We all had a wonderful time, especially Mom, and it was great to get all the families together. And we're always glad to have a chance to see Suzanne's wonderful family.

The 10K came and went and we...well, we finished. I didn't want to risk messing up my back again by running. Frankly, I'm too damned heavy this year. I've put on a worrisome amount of weight since Mike died and it's taken its toll. Plus, I wanted to be with Suzanne. Usually we split up but this year we walked it together, often holding hands. My "chip time" took a beating (a half hour over my average time of an hour and ten minutes) but we had a blast.

Finally, check this out. As a child of the late '70s, this is quite possibly the most awesome thing I've seen all year.



Later.