Yesterday was Perfect Day 3!!! Dinner was a success on multiple fronts. I planned well for the day and ate a late, On
Program, lunch, so I was not ravenous when we ate a late dinner at one of my
favorite restaurants, Café Trio. I did
not drink any alcohol and I did not eat any Off Program food. The purpose of the dinner was not to indulge
my food fantasies, the purpose of the dinner was to meet Steve’s girlfriend,
Audrey. So while my meal was nice, it
consisted of a garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a main
course of scallops over a bed of sautéed vegetables, it wasn’t Off Program or
high in calories. I found it necessary
to tell the waiter that I was on an abstinence program so that she would stop asking
me if I wanted anything besides water to drink.
It was interesting how quickly that changed her demeanor from one of, “aren’t
you going to have a drink?” to respect for my choices. I have never used the word abstinence to
describe my decision not to eat or drink certain things before, but it is an
effective word. It has a very distinct
and widely understood meaning and people don’t challenge it. For me, the word doesn’t carry any negative
connotations and there is no grey area.
Decision made. Move on. Enjoy whatever else it is I’m doing and be
grateful for the healthy food that is on my plate.
Dinner last night was not focused on the food and drink we
were consuming, it was focused on getting to know Audrey a little bit before
Steve leaves for Samoa on Wednesday. We
had met her very briefly once before, when she picked Steve up for a date, but
last night was the first time that we had a chance to really visit. I find these types of events a little awkward,
yet they are so necessary. Introducing a
new person into well-established family dynamics is an interesting
process. That said, Audrey, Steve and
Jack handled it very well. I think I
stumbled through the evening in an adequate fashion. I have never been very good at making
conversation when I don’t know a person, but Steve and Jack were great about
keeping the conversation flowing and getting the stories rolling.
I like Audrey a lot and it is clear that she and Steve care
deeply for one another. What mom can ask
for more than that? She seems like an
intelligent, strong, independent, compassionate woman. She has had her own life adventures,
including studying abroad in Spain for a semester during her undergraduate
studies and going back to Spain for a year after she graduated to teach English
as a second language. With Steve getting
ready to leave for 27 months they have a challenge ahead of them.
Jack and I encouraged them to write letters
to each other as their main mode of communication, rather than emails, Skype,
or another more immediate form of communication. When Jack and I lived 3000 miles apart we
discovered that letter writing was a very effective and intimate way of
communication and getting to know one another.
There is just something different about hand writing a letter and putting
it in the mail. The writing process
takes longer and it is more thoughtful.
Also, you don’t sit at your computer and wait for a response. You write whatever it is you want to write
and you put it in the mailbox, then you go about your day. You don’t fret over when you’ll get a
response, because it will be a while before you get one, particularly if you
live in Samoa. Chances are you’ll write
another letter before you get a response from the first one. I hope they give letter writing a
chance. I know that one of the reasons
Jack and I fell so deeply in love with each other is because we wrote letters
to each other for so many years. It’s
powerful stuff.
It’s 8:08 on Saturday morning and per my normal routine I
have already balanced the checkbook, paid the bills, and updated our
budget. I have also picked our meals for
the week. This week I am preparing:
- Roasted Chicken with Vegetables (This is one dish I cook every week. It is a nice, one dish meal. The chicken is simple but delicious and the veggies are good, too.)
- Stir Fry Thai Basil Chicken with Bell Peppers, Zucchini, and Carrots
- Thai Yellow Curry Bake (Curried meatballs baked in a coconut curry sauce with sautéed onions and sweet potatoes)
- Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Pear-Cabbage Medley
- Beef and Potato Skillet (or hamburger hash, as I usually call it)
This will be enough food for all of our meals this week,
including my lunches. Jack will do the
grocery shopping this morning after he gets up and I will get most of the
cooking done this weekend. The hamburger
hash and Thai basil chicken are quick to prepare. I’ll probably cook those on the evening that
we decide to have them.
I missed my exercise a few times this week because of a
couple of late night events. One of them
was the ball game Tuesday night and the other was a very late night at work on
Thursday. While these might sound like
lame excuses, they are what they are. I
get up at 4:00am to exercise and if I don’t get to bed until 10:30 or 11:00 it
is just too hard to get up that early. I’ll
exercise today and tomorrow and it will all be fine. I am not in any danger of slipping out of the
habit of exercising. It is something I
do, now. It would helpful if I could add
some light exercise into my evening routine, a walk, for instance. That is something I have never been able to
do consistently. I am not sure why
not. It seems like such a good
idea. I’m not so busy that I couldn’t
walk most evenings for 30 minutes. Just
go for a walk, dammit!! Just go for a
walk. Why don’t you just go for a
walk? At the very least, on the days
that I don’t get any other exercise in, I will go for a 30 minute walk. There.
Decision made. It seems so
obvious. Just go for a walk!!
This weekend started out busy and will stay that way. Yesterday evening started with a haircut and
then we had dinner with Audrey and Steve.
Today I am going to the bank with Steve to be added as a signer to his
bank account while he is in Samoa, and then I am going to work for a few hours. It would be nice to get some bowling practice
in, too. Tomorrow I have a car service
appointment in the morning and we have a baseball game in the afternoon. Of course, I need to cook.
I have a quick business trip that starts Monday afternoon and
I will be home Tuesday evening. Audrey
is coming over for Steve’s last dinner at home on Tuesday and we drop Steve off
at the airport early Wednesday morning. I have
a mega project at work that I have to get done as quickly as possible. More on that later. It is going to be busy around here. Oh yeah, and I am going to have major, life
changing surgery in 81 days.
Whew! Seems like a
lot. I better get going.
Have a wonderful day!!
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