Sizzling Summer Changes

At 17, as did other teenagers, I believed I was immune to any threats or physical ailments. Thus, the summer before my senior year, several of us travelled to Lake Waco to spend many hours in the hottest part of the day! Fun. Were we smart! Well, not me.

Playing on inner tubes, going far out from shore...doing stupid tricks in the deepest waters, it really never dawned on me that the beaming sun was 'cooking my fair skin!' Sizzle, pop and sear a little more as the one o'clock sun beamed down. I kept having fun and kept refusing any suntanning products! I DIDN'T NEED THEM!
Wrong.

By the time I arrived home, clear blisters had risen all across the top of my back and shoulders. Ouchy! Was I ever in misery! I spent three days in my front bedroom, topless, on a mattress in the floor with a fan blowing on me! Completey suffering and in anguish, that was the day I decided to be a little smarter in most cases!

Life experiences have prepped us all and taught us many lessons. Thank goodness for patient parents and loving parents. They'd been there, done that and knew it was our turn to do so. I'm not sure that any person has led a completely perfect life without making any wrong turns! That especially addresses me.

Tremendous successes have lighted my path and some of the shadowy areas on my life path were there due to my choices. We have choices to make and more often than not (thank goodness)...I've stayed true to the best course. However, even as an adult, we are not immune to life's pranks and downfalls.

It's been a crazy, amazing year for me. I had Lap Band, lost weight, regained excellent health and determined a divorce was the path I should choose. The road less travelled by many, but, still perhaps a little FM road. It'll getcha where ya need to go next!

Since that time, tremendous changes have occurred with me. My grocery bill has zoomed to 'zip' so to speak. I treat myself with an 8 ounce Coke Zero once a day. Thus, one bottle of Coke Zero lasts me a week. Cost? .99. Past months have seen more than 250 Diet Dr. Peppers come through the door and some other liquids...running close to $300 a month just for liquids.

Alongside the food changes and visits to the market...I've been working the house over. I've given things away, taken things to Goodwill, sold things on the local sale listing and have been cleaning out and rearranging stuff here and there. It's a very different feeling. It's the freedom to return to my tastes in my home and place some cute pics of great nieces and nephews here and there. I love seeing those sweet personalities looking at me today.

I've reconnected with cousins in the League City area and out on the lake. It's a great feeling to reunite after a four year absence to hear someone say, 'you are still family and we've shared everything with you ...you are family and we're glad to have you back.' Ignoring family for an extended period of time for me is one of the greatest challenges faced.

My mother was one who made sure we stayed in touch, got in touch, initiated touch, went to the showers, graduations, parties, reunions, etc. I grew up in her shadow where family carried a tremendous marker. Life, family, friends and, of course,the Lord are what makes our worlds revolve.

The changes have been steady in the past week. Spaces in my home are cleaner than they've been in years! New colors and styles are appearing and the freedom to do whatever in the world awaits is wonderful.

It had been a very long time since I had been out after 4 pm in the afternoon. Now, if I'm out running after that hour or at 8 o'clock at night...I'm whistlin' dixie!! Yessss....it's called life and I'm living it again.

The support from friends and family has been outstanding and means so much to me. And, after the first week, I'm now getting a track on my food, eating, amounts, etc. It takes very little a few times a day....I'm content, but no, not four stomachs and I don't chew my cudd!!!

I've been invited out to the lake tomorrow with Mary and her family. Another fun day of relaxing on the wonderful deck and looking out over their park like backyard and the inlet of water that flows past their property. Trees, birds, wind and nuthin' but time.

Life 101! I'm excelling in it!