MILEPOST 144 - A DIFFICULT WEEK FOR SOME REASON!

MILEPOST 144


Week 42 - I am becoming impatient! Only a 2 pound loss this week, for a total of 144. So, that means that I have to lose 3 pounds for each of the next 2 weeks in order to meet my goal of 150 pounds lost by father's day. Doable, but enough to make it interesting.

For some reason, this week has been difficult. I really want to be at the end of this journey. Why? Is it because I want to indulge in some of the foods that I see others enjoying? Is it because I don't like what I am eating? Or, is there something else going on that doesn't have anything to do with the program or food?

I don't really have any cravings. There are foods that look good, but nothing that I feel like I would eat - even if they were approved. And, I truly enjoy the foods that I am eating. So, I have concluded that there must be something else going on.

"I have decided to be happy, because it's good for my health." - Voltaire"

What influences my attitude? It may be the weather. We have a nice day - then it is cold and windy again. I know that I am ready for nice weather for more than one or two days at a time.

I have spent a lot of time this week preparing for our road trip to Boston. Motel reservations made along the way; planning each day's travel hours; show tickets in Fort Peck, MT.; hoping the weather will clear up and we won't face any floods or tornadoes along the way.

I planted more flowers in the courtyard. I am always amazed at how the tender little plants perk up once you put them into their final place in the garden . I choose the most healthy looking plants in the nursery, but once they get into the soil and experience the nurturing warmth of the sunshine, fertilizer and water, they perk up and start looking right at home.

This week also marks the anniversary dates of both Bob's and my father's passing. Both were men of character - true character. I don't know that either was a 'religious' man, but they had such strong convictions - and such strong values. Neither had an education beyond the eighth grade, but both were extremely intelligent. A miner - and a farmer! You could pick up any rock and Bob's dad could tell you the exact composition. And, my dad could look at a field and lay out irrigation ditches that followed the contours of the ground with no instruments to help. Neither wanted a lot, and both were happy with what they had.

"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present." Jim Rohn

I have spent time reflecting on the happy times we had as a family growing up with so little, but never realizing that we were "poor". My childhood was spent living in a 2-room log homesteader's cabin - each room a 16' X 16' area that served as our bedroom in one room, and living quarters in the other. I have often said that I am so grateful for those days, living in poverty - and growing together as friends as well as family. My experiences are those usually thought of as one or two generations before me. .

"A year from now you may wish you had started today." - Karen Lamb

But, now I have to concentrate on the future. I only have a short distance to travel before I reach my final destination. Each day brings me closer to my (final) destination. I realized as I typed the word 'final' that my goal weight isn't a 'final' destination. I have a goal, but once I reach it, it isn't 'final'. It is only another milepost along the road. There is more to come after that - I have to maintain that weight forever. And each day will present new and different challenges, and new attractions to explore. Each road trip that we take presents new and different experiences. Each destination has its own attractions and monuments. Although there is much to see and do along the way, it is once we arrive that we can truly explore and enjoy those attractions and monuments.

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” ~Benjamin Franklin

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen." - Michael Jordan"