Better Choices

            I saw this humorous thing on Facebook the other day. It said: If Britney Spears can survive 2007, I should be able to get through today. It made me laugh, but it also got me thinking. Kerrie keeps telling me not to focus on the things I’m giving up, but rather on the yummy things I’ll be eating from now on. Which is true I should, but sometimes it helps me to think about what I’m giving up too. It helps me make better choices. For instance, I really love hot wings. I could eat way more than a healthy serving of hot wings. A few days ago when everyone else was eating Little Caesar’s Pizza, I was eating Amy’s Vegan Pizza. That wasn’t hard at all because believe it or not Amy’s Vegan Pizza is really good. The hard part came when I started to clean every thing up. I had ordered a side of wings, they weren’t hot wings, but they were still tempting. Lots of people in my house love wings, they always get eaten up. These wings just sat there, not even opened. I don’t think I’ve ever put wings in the fridge and not eaten just one more. Even if I’ve already eaten 10! If there’s left over wings, I eat at least one in the process of putting them away and if there’s only 2 or 3 left, I eat them. Well these wings I just put away. Didn’t even consider eating them. If fact it wasn’t until everything else was cleaned up that I realized: I just put wings away without eating 1! I was pretty proud of myself. And this morning, my routine changed a little and I had more time than I usually do. I thought about sleeping in, then thought no I’m getting up. I made myself a cup of oolong tea because I heard that helps speed up your metabolism and I exercised for an extra 20 minutes and went 2 miles instead of one. What’s that got to do with Britney Spears surviving 2007? It’s like this: I realized if I can give up wings, I can do anything. Every once in a while I’m tempted to eat something that I’ve cut out of my diet and I think of those wings. Britney survived 2007, I gave up wings, and now I CAN DO ANYTHING!

More of Legacy:

Life falls into routine. She, her siblings and friends go to school, her dad, along with all the other dads, go to work. Her mom, along with most of the other moms, stays at home. The girl watches for the coyote as she walks to school but never sees him. She wonders if he sees her.

Kids laugh at her and adults raise their eyebrows in that way they do when they don’t believe something, when she talks about him. She stops talking about him. She writes about him though. She learns all she can about coyotes and writes about what his life might be like. Her mother tells her she spends too much time writing and wants her to go play with the other kids and stop worrying about some old stray dog. Will anyone ever believe it’s a coyote or understand she’s not worried?

***

A few years of unsuccessful searching make way for other interests. A Junior Girl Scout now, her troop is planning their annual awards ceremony. They want to do something a little different.

“Let’s do a play,” one of her friends suggests.

She tells them of a story she wrote about an Indian and a coyote.

“Her stories are great,” another girl says.

“Remember the campout stories?” one asks.

“Why don’t you write a script with parts for everyone and we’ll perform it for all the parents,” her leader says.

She smiles, but doesn’t say anything. She can hardly contain her excitement. One of her stories will be presented to an audience. She tastes her first success as an author and savors it.

Her brother laughs when he hears of the play. “You still think that stray dog we saw was a coyote, don’t you?”

Her siblings laugh. Her parents grin.

She knows what condescending means. Some of her enthusiasm fades.

Tuesday – Exercise – 40 minutes; 2 miles (YAY!!!)

• Pre-breakfast - 1 cup of oolong tea with honey.
• Breakfast – An orange, scrambled eggs with onions and peppers and 1 cup of oolong tea with honey.
• AM Snack – a stuffed grape leaf
• Lunch – Loaded Salad
• PM Snack –a handful of Snapea crisps and ½ a cucumber
• Dinner – Spaghetti with TJs sausage-less sausage