How Time Flies!

How Time Flies!

I was horrified to realize that my last blog was posted on December 2^nd.  It feels like a lifetime has passed since then.  I will give this condensed summary of my adventures:

Monday, November 22—flew to Las Vegas, rented a car and drove to St. George, Utah. I spent the week in St. George celebrating Thanksgiving and partying with my fam—all six brothers, my dad and his new wife, and several of my children.  Fun Times.

Saturday, November 27^th—drove up to Provo where, spent the next two days helping my daughter, Lindsay, and her husband finish packing their moving van and then drove one of their cars in a caravan down to Blanding, Utah—hence the post, ‘Greetings from Blanding’. I spent a wonderful week with Martin and Lindsay helping unpack and organize their house.

Tuesday, December 7^th—drove the six hours back up north, spent a little time in Provo finishing up some business and visiting Alisa and Megan.

Thursday, December 9^th—flew to Portland, Oregon to stay with my daughter’s four children while she accompanied her husband back to Baltimore to be a kidney donor for his dad.  That was a nasty ordeal  (for him, not for me!) but happily he is pretty well recovered and happily, I had a great time with the grandkids and getting hear my daughter’s Cantico concert.

Monday, December 20^th—flew to Austin, Texas to spend two weeks with my son, David, and his family.  The weather wasn’t the greatest that day, and as a result of flight re-routing and several delays, I arrived at about 2:00 a.m. in the morning.  However, it was the beginning of two absolutely wonderful weeks with more family.  We spent Christmas and New Years there and managed to fit a trip in to Austin and the NASA space center.

I originally had planned to finally fly back to California on Jan 4^th—just over 6 weeks from when I left.  As it ended up, I extended my time in Austin, arriving home on January 11^th—SEVEN weeks later.   During that time, I was living out of a single suitcase—okay, I went with one suitcase and came home with two…but it was Christmas!  I went for a four week stretch without seeing my husband…a record long absence in our 33 ½ years of marriage.  AND, I tried to stay on my food plan and work my recovery program the entire time.

So, how did I fair?  Quite well.  Not perfectly.  But, I have to say that I exceeded my expectations by a long shot.  I came home weighing less than when I left in spite of three major food-related holidays and all the travel. [I was gone for two 1^st-of-the-month-weigh-ins, so I will have an official report on weight come February 1^st.]  I came home happy and grateful for the wonderful time I had to spend with loved ones.  And…I managed to counteract the normal “re-entry” craziness-depression-disorientation I usually experience when I got home from traveling by diving into my recovery program even deeper.  It was miraculous.  My notebook is filled with things I am dying to share.  So, I’ll do that as my schedule permits…one piece at a time.