Special Days

Days that you celebrate something really special are usually difficult days for those of us limiting our food intake. Are there any special days that don’t involve lots and lots of food? Not at my house. When my son, Jeffry, the amazing chef, comes to visit with his family we don’t even need a special day to have lots and lots of food. But today was a special day for us. My beautiful little Granddaughter celebrated her First Communion today. It was a beautiful celebration of friends and family and of course there was food. At least my daughter and son-in-law got healthy food for the occasion. Jeffry made some meatballs and told me he’d be insulted if I didn’t at least taste them. So he cut one in half and I ate it. It was very yummy. I was a little nervous because sometimes one bite just makes me want more, but as yummy as the ½ meatball was I was completely satisfied with just that. I ate a cheese and croissant sandwich and raw veggies. I even ate the veggies without the dip for the most part. I think twice I dipped out of habit, but mostly I just munched the broccoli, carrots and sugar peas. Then it came time to cut the cake. I really like cake. It was so pretty and yummy looking. I ate ½ a piece and later when I walked by a piece just sitting there I started to dip my finger in the frosting but stopped myself just in time and went and got some water. Now all I have to do tomorrow is remember what my daughter told me about birthday cake: Eat one piece to celebrate the birthday person then the next day nothing. It’s a birthday cake, not a Monday cake. Well tomorrow is Sunday, but I will remind myself that it was a First Communion cake, not a Sunday cake.

All in all it was a lovely day and I did really well. I got up early to exercise. The calorie counter on my elliptical is broken and only the 100 count works. I could be at 199 calories burned, but it will only show 100. I noticed the other day that at 1.2 miles it changed to 200 so I thought I’d try and make it go to 400. I did it! To celebrate I ate an extra orange.

Yes special days can be difficult but special days are wonderful too! God Bless my beautiful Granddaughter!

Legacy (last one)

They walk through the door and find their children standing there staring at the floor. She looks at what they are staring at and her eyes fill with tears. The kids are all talking at once. “Wow! Cool!” they exclaim. “That’s not from a dog is it?” her daughter asks.

            “I don’t know,” her husband answers, “let’s Google it and find out.”

            “You don’t have to,” she responds. “Look how long and pointy the claws are? And see the negative space between the toes and the pad, there’s an X. Dogs don’t have that. This was made by a coyote.”

            Her husband and children stare at her in surprise.

            “How do you know that?” her son whispers.

            “Because when I was a kid no one would believe me when I told them I saw a coyote in the hills so I got some books and learned everything I could about them.”

Her husband smiles; her kids are impressed. There are secrets about this mom, this wife, they don’t know. 

            She looks out the new, larger, double paned window at the one expanse of open land that has yet to be developed. She thinks of the many times people laughed at her or looked at her in that skeptical way when she told them she saw a coyote. She knew he had been there. She remembers looking for him as she walked to school. She remembers the thrill of thinking about the possibilities and writing about him. She remembers her dream of writing her adventures. Forgetting the hurtful words of her High School English teacher she grabs her laptop, goes out to the back yard, and scans the hill with a look of determination. That hill that was the reason she fell in love with this house so many years ago.

“What are you doing?” asks her surprised husband.

“I’m going to write,” she informs him.

“It’s almost dinner time,” he hints.

“Why don’t you and the kids go pick up some pizza,” she suggests.

As they pile into the family minivan she begins her assent. Slow and clumsy at first, she tries to remember the last time she attempted such a feat. Half way up her muscles strengthen and her agility improves. Forty years fall away; the eight year old girl who first climbed this hill takes control of her 48 year old body. With an invigorating sense of accomplishment she reaches the summit, bends, hands on knees to catch her breath and turns. She is thrilled to find the view as stunning as she remembered. She sits down under the sprawling, dead, pine and opens the notebook. She will tell his story and in the process, tell her own. She begins to type.

He roams the tinder-dry hills in search of food. Even here the air is searing. The pungent smell of smoldering desert grass permeates his nostrils. Is it the fire or just the heat of the season?

Saturday – Exercise – 45 minutes; 2.3 miles (400 calories burned!)

• Breakfast – 2 oranges, hard boiled egg and 1 cup of oolong tea with honey.
• No real meal after that just healthy grazing, oh except for that ½ a piece of cake.