Vacation's Over (sigh)

Sunday, January 6, 2013
4:28 pm

I have decided that I won't log my food on Sundays. We get up quite early to drive an hour and a half to church. Before we leave, I pack a lunch for us to eat on the hour and a half drive home, and Sunday nights have become our pizza supper nights. We love having that regularity in our week. If it's Sunday, we're having pizza. I buy a rising crust frozen version, trying different toppings each week. My favorite so far is the Chicken Parmesan with a marinara sauce. Mmm . . . yummy. Anyway, I have heard a number of people say it's actually good for you to have one day when you eat "off plan." It's supposed to trick your body so it doesn't think you're depriving it. I don't know. I'm not a nutritionist. But I think it helps the mind as well to be less restrictive one day a week. As long as we can wrap our minds around the ONE DAY A WEEK part. And the fact is, I don't think I go all that crazy on Sundays anyway. It's just that it seems more like a hit and miss kind of day and I do what I need to do, and eat when I am able to eat because of all our running around. I'll assess the success of my plan over the next few weeks.

Yes. My vacation is over after today. I'm a bit sad because I love having the freedom to not set the alarm for 5:00 am. But for now, I need to keep my job, so back to work I go. Fortunately tomorrow is a teacher planning day so it's a low-pressure day. I'll organize any junk I left on my desk the day I high-tailed it outta there, and map out 3rd quarter. Perhaps I'll even work on 4th quarter too. I remind myself that I can't get to spring break if I don't go back now, and I can't get to the end of the year if I don't go back after spring break. I know. Sad. But in the grand scheme of things I have a decent job. I don't work weekends or nights. I get lots of vacation. And I have the opportunity to impact students in a positive way, who have plenty of reasons to simply drop out of school.

See the program I teach in is called Cyesis. The word literally means pregnancy. Our students are pregnant teens or those who have had their babies. My youngest this year so far is 14. She's in 8th grade and just had her son before Christmas break. My oldest student is 19, married, and has 2 daughters. Our students, boys and girls - the boys are eligible to come if  their names are on the birth certificates and their babies are in our nursery - bring their babies to school with them. The babies are cared for in the nursery while the parents attend classes. Ours is a dropout prevention program. Many of these kids come out of rough backgrounds. I can be an adult in their lives who cares for them while holding them to standards that are higher than they would hold for themselves. I enjoy working with these kinds of kids. So if I have to keep working for a while, this is a worthy endeavor.

A new season of The Biggest Loser begins tonight. I have loved that show since its first season on the air. I actually applied to be on the show a number of times. Once, after I submitted a video, I was called by a casting director and asked if I could drive down to Miami for an on-camera interview. I couldn't do it because (1) the drive was 5 or 6 hours or more and they wanted me there next day, and (2) on the outside chance I had been selected, I would have missed my daughter's wedding, and that was most certainly NOT going to happen.

Another year, that same daughter and I went to the open casting call in Tampa and got a call back. We went for our on-camera interview, which went quite well, and we corresponded with our casting director for weeks afterward. She asked us to complete paperwork, then to send more video. The last video we recorded, ended with my daughter attempting a cartwheel and dislocating her elbow . . . on camera! After the trip to the ER, I sent in our footage. She received well-wishes from several folks in the casting department, but communication ended after that. One added factor that would have created a difficulty on my end was that my husband hates reality television and was not supportive of my desire to be on the show.


As someone who never even thought about his weight, let alone battled it, he couldn't understand why I didn't just eat less and lose the weight. I asked him once why he ate and he was stumped. He asked me, "Is this a trick question?" I assured him it wasn't. He ate because he had to to live. That was it. Over the years he has begun to understand the struggle I've had all my life, but that didn't change his dislike of BL and other such reality shows.

I, however, still find great inspiration from shows like BL and Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition. I always buy People magazine's Half Their Size issue in January. I enjoy reading about and watching or seeing people who have faced the same obstacles I have and overcome them.

I have to believe that one day, I will have my own success story, and by telling it, someone who is struggling will find inspiration from what I was able to overcome by the grace of God!

Until next time . . .

2 comments:

  1. I believe you can do this. Especially when you trust in God to give you everything you need to succeed, it can and will happen. Start out with what you can do and build on that. :)

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  2. Thanks, Suzi! I so appreciate your words of encouragement!

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