At work yesterday, I covered the Help Desk. It means I took requests by telephone, e-mail, and in-person to assist with computer, telephone, and printer problems. It was a busy morning, I responded to three or four e-mails, took a few calls, and went to visit three people at their desks. Finally, a small lull, so I stopped into the restroom. Finished, I stepped to the sink to wash my hands – “ACK!” I screeched, “I hope that booger wasn’t hanging out of my nose all morning!” The nose accoutrement felt especially embarrassing for me because I’m so hyper aware of nose hairs, carbuncles, blemishes, wild hairs, ear hairs, skin tones, uneven facial features – all the things a mature and well-balanced person should not notice. <sigh> Another lesson for growth! ;-}

Weigh-in on Weigh-in

Let’s see. One pound heavier this week than last week’s weigh-in. I have not yet evaluated my diaries, so I can’t point to anything in particular. Two thoughts: I really should change my weigh-in day. I love to come home from work on Friday night and relax with my hubby, and eat a special meal. This often does not go well for Saturday mornings. I think Wednesday morning would be a MUCH better weigh-in day. Second though: I have a touch of the digestive tract crud that was going around the office this week. Three of my peers have been out sick a day or two over the last ten days, maybe it was just naturally my turn. Result – though I ate a low calorie total yesterday, my body feels bloated and uncomfortable. Another observation: it seems to me that since starting CK in January, I’ve had a few of these “several-pounds-down, a-pound-or-two-up” cycles. Perhaps it is just the way my body copes with the changes.

Fun Stuff
House Painting. Time to paint the outside of this old house where hubby and I live. It is a boring cross between brown and beige right now. In the front, it is faced with pale terra cotta bricks. I wanted to paint it bright, like Mexican pottery or Mexican tile. But I looked at paint samples contrasted against photographs of the house. Mexican pottery is TOO bright on this little house in gray Pacific Northwest. So we’re opting for something in the same theme, but a little paler. It will go well with brickwork, and existing roof and gutterwork.

5K Walk. Tomorrow, hubby and I and a friend from down the road will head out early in the morning for a 5K walk. The walk includes a ride on Portland’s Tram (fun), but then we have to walk down-hill back to the finish line. When I originally signed us up for this (January, I think), I believed that I would be in fabulous shape by June 1. I am in much better shape, but nowhere near fabulous. The walk could be quite challenging. At least I have good walking shoes and I’m planning on using my walking staff. I’ve noticed that my walking goes better if I do enough Yoga before a long walk. This week I’ve been diligent about getting my Yoga routines in. Should survive, but may not be very comfortable by 10:30 tomorrow morning.

Vacation Planning. Time off requested, deposit on cruise for early autumn, planning a mid-summer retreat near water in Washington state with friends. And an early summer go-nowhere, do-nothing-special week! I will feel broke by the holiday season of 2008, because I will have no vacation time “in the bank.” But I think we’ve earned these vacations. It’s been a long while since hubby and I have just traveled for our own pleasure.

Fairy Snow. At this time of year, there is a tree across the way from my house, on the far side of the pasture, a tree that goes to seed. Its seeds are white and fluffy, and make me think of snow as they float around in the air. When the seed fluff settles around the yards of the neighbors and on the road, it looks like fairy snow, sometimes creating small drifts that are three or four inches deep. Each year we live here I’m absolutely delighted by the season of fairy snow.

Learning from Blogs, learning from People

MOUGHI stopped by to visit my last blog entry. She left a comment that I have been moved by ever since.
“I have learned that this weight loss journey is more about a spiritual journey than physically losing weight. The Lord has taught me so much about my relationship with Him and trusting Him these past months than I have my entire time I have been a believer in Him. I thought I trusted Him, but give Him your daily bread, and you really learn trust in new ways.”
Later in the week I stopped by to visit MOUGHI’s blog and learned that she’d lost a very dear BIL. Yet she was able to tell us “Today, I learned I could grieve without food.”

These are life lessons, and gifts from MOUGHI’s heart to me and to each of us. This is the point of joining something like CK. Together we are much wiser, and stronger than we would be separately. In MOUGHI’s journey I can see there is a different kind of future for me than there has been a past. I can know that I can rely on my own experience of moving from doubt to belief, brokenness to faith, stiff-necked independence to trust and reliance. That I’m not crazy, nor have I invented the divine. This will be a life-long journey. (Change, again.) God-willing, I will grow and change until it is time for my last breath.

Okay, whatever I delve into now will be small next to that lesson. If you have been so kind as to read this far on this blog entry, thank you. And I might offer this sort of blessing: May it be God’s will that this day you find moments of deep trust, that you take a moment to be patient in a place where you usually wouldn’t, that you listen carefully to someone you wouldn’t usually listen to. Be an agent of change for good. You never know how your words or actions may affect another. May you have strength to model the best that you are called to be.

Namaste.