Not Dead Yet!

 

For the past five years I’ve had a habit: I read my emails, check the latest on Facebook then open the Weight Watchers Community site and pore over all of my friends’ blogs. And then suddenly, the community was gone and I was left with a hole in my heart.

Emails, Facebook posts and WW Connect blurbs just aren’t filling that space in me that was used to writing, commenting and deeply connecting. Thankfully, members of the community are slowly making the leap to personal blogs. It won’t be the same, but we can at least try it.

So this is my blog. It’ll include a photo each time just like my WW one did. I’ll continue to talk about adventures big and small. I’ll try to write with hope, even on the days I’m just not feeling it. And of course I will blather on about my work to lose weight.

So…my latest adventure was an 8-day one. While my husband was on a long trip to Asia, my little sister came to Washington D.C. to play tourist with me for part of the time. Unfortunately, her trip coincided with area record heat/humidity combinations. It was between 98-100 degrees and 60-70% humidity the whole time she was here. We felt the blistering heat and moaned about it but it never stopped us from getting out as planned. Well, on the hottest day we did decide not to walk the length of the National Mall, but that was the only real adaptation due to the weather.

Early on, we rode the metro to Arlington National Cemetery. It is beautiful even aside from its reason for being. It sits on a hillside looking down on all that is great and memorable about Washington D.C. And then there are the memorials and gravesites. John F. Kennedy’s is front and center. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded around the clock by a contingent of U.S. Marines, is in a prominent position. The Iwo Jima memorial which we all seem to be familiar with is HUGE and sits in a quiet grassy area.

Even with all the glorious memorials to wars and disasters, it was the tens of thousands of humble headstones that hit me in the soul. Each white stone represents a deep sacrifice that cannot be repaid. I couldn’t help but be touched.

The visit to the cemetery got me thinking about death and new beginnings. I am putting to death my old lazy, defeatist thoughts and habits by working with a personal trainer as of three weeks ago. With her help, I am finding new life in my body and mind. She pushes me, encourages me and reminds me of the commitment I made to myself. When eating right gets hard, and it always does, she tells me that I only have to do it for one week. The other weeks aren’t here yet.

I’m very impressed by my trainer. The results after three weeks have been good – 4 ½ pounds gone, improved strength and balance and a new outlook.

I felt like I was kind of circling the drain from a weight loss perspective but these three weeks have shown me one thing: I’m not dead yet!

Photo: Mine from Arlington National Cemetery.