We had such a great Easter weekend out here in the real world. The weather was stunning; up to 23 celsius and sunny for the most part.
I always have lists for 3-day weekends that would take a week to complete, but our little family found a pretty good balance: first some cookie making or snuggling and reading time, then I cleaned/sorted/etc. in the morning while Noah and Carl either did some yard work, played, or watched videos, and then after lunch we hit 1 of 2 local beaches for some serious sandcastle building and rock throwing time. We had dinner at home one night, and dinner out inexpensively Saturday night.
Sunday we substituted beach time for family Easter dinner including my parents (served dreadfully early).
As a result some of the post-holiday, post-hospital, post-growth spurt detrius has been cleared and spring wardrobes are in place and cobwebs are no longer accents, at least on the first floor. So I feel virtuous and relaxed at the same time. That’s my ideal day really: Work ass off until 2 pm; goof off thereafter.
Noah continues to gain weight and energy and is starting to behave more like a young lad and less like Beth in Little Women. Mostly it’s all up side, but a certain amount of damage to toys and furniture was resulting until Carl and I figured it out and started providing more rigorous opportunities to run around outdoors like a banshee.
I am working from home today due to pink eye, but it is a minor blight at this point.
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I have a goal and a deadline for MY (LATEST) BOOK. I seriously have to do this now or die trying. So I am booked through Sept 15.
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Did I mention I had high blood pressure? For someone who’s spent her whole life with people asking if she’s normally alive at her regular blood pressure, it was a surprise. It was one reading, at work and I haven’t been able to repeat it since.
But (and here is the real point) it led to my work paying for me to attend the lunchtime Weight Watchers group. I know I am about to lose all my healthy eating and feminist credentials in one go, but since it was free I signed up. Also, my dad’s heart event spooked me into it.
I had gained about 10 lbs last year because I would come home, eat a healthy dinner, put Noah to bed, and then sit and eat junk food. This placed me up at the weight I was at when I got pregnant with Noah and definitely into the overweight category.
I figured out All On My Own that this was a stress/misery thing and to stop, but of course I didn’t.
However since signing up for this damn WW thing, I actually have lost 12 lbs and I feel better and I am exercising more. Statistically, this won’t last. But I think it was what I needed to do. The rhetoric and points-counting are not quite as bad as anticipated, but still a bit funny. I have about another 12-ish pounds to go before I am where I’d kind of like to be. We’ll see how it goes – WW will expire before I get there.
I did read something somewhere that addictive personalities do well on diets like WW for a while, until they get bored. But until then, adhering to the diet becomes its own little addiction. I have to admit I recognize myself in this description. I’m still glad. I feel better. I look better. I’ve stopped automatically stocking up on chips and dip for after dinner.
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Underneath, Lynn had an unusual Easter. Some of the trappings were the same – testing of people’s wills and all that – but the results were unusually compassionate. Oddly enough, she also attended the family dinner and made a few inappropriate remarks to my parents. (‘It’s always nice to get together on the occasion of a good crucifixion’ and the like. Noah was not at the table for those – phew.)
During the cleaning she also took out her guitar, which has been locked in a closet since Noah could crawl, and set it up on its stand in the living room. She showed Noah how to play it and talked to him about respecting the instrument. I think it will be ok, mostly because it’s not in any direct path for anything, and also we could replace it if the unthinkable happened. But it was quite the statement of both trust and moving in. She played and sang a bit. Noah doesn’t really like it when we sing, dance, or play an instrument, but Lynn does not have my scruples and told him tough. He said ok and hung out.
I think they share tastes in music. I have caught him replacing the latest book on CD with Evanescence a few times now. I live in fear of his adolescence.
I don’t really want to get into thinking Noah knows this or that other thing, but since the hospital when Lynn was quite calm and awed at his courage, it seems like they’ve bonded – and it seems to go in both directions. I mean Lynn has been a parent, but this is more direct. I’m not sure what I’m saying except, it’s nice. It’s holistic.
5 years after moving, I think the system is moving in. What can I say?
