Weight: 254 lbs. Total Weight Lost: 106 lbs. Weight Lost This Month: 18 lbs.
April/.May has been a month of changes and successes. We pull up stakes in Florida, attend the East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival in Charleston, SC, discard old clothes, buy new clothes, move north to New England to visit our kids and live our lives with greater energy and enthusiasm. It is impossible to overestimate the degree to which my increased energy and mobility and the decreased space I take up in the world has begun to affect the way we lead our life.
In early April we play golf at Riverview Golf Club with our friends Miles and Joan Kulukundis. We play twelve holes before the rain storm hits and drives us racing our golf carts back to the club house. I can feel my swing changing shape and begin hitting the ball further and with more authority. Miles notes greater rotation in my swing. There's simply less of me to try to work a golf swing around. I've really begun to look forward to walking the hilly course at Craig Wood when we return to Keene Valley in late May. I take out the battery for my caddy cart, charge it up, and test it in the campground to make sure it hasn't died from disuse over the winter. It works fine.
We take a couple of days to clean up the settled elements of having lived in the same place for seven months, the longest we have stayed anywhere in the past three years. We are headed for James Island County Park in Charleston, SC for the East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival. In December the thought of buying and using kayaks would never have occurred to us. Now it's a certainty we'll buy some sort of small boat. We spend a week at James Island, getting racks for the truck, arranging a carrying system for when we are pulling our fifth wheel, and attending the festival, where we paddle numerous kayaks, attend classes, and have a generally great time. For an account of the Festival itself, see my website.
My clothes are beginning to fall off me. None of my trousers fit any longer and Irene has to take up all my shorts. I begin trying on clothes at Sam's and Wal Mart and am fitting into sizes I haven't worn in years. The specter of our forthcoming cruise to Alaska rises up before me as I try to plan what to wear on this voyage. I want to wear nice clothing that fits, but there's no sense in purchasing quality clothes since they may only be wearable for a month or so. In early May we go into a men's clothing store where the eager salesman measures me and we discover I can fit into a 48R jacket with only slight recutting. After some discussion with the salesman, he recommends I not purchase any clothes now as cutting them down more than one size is more expensive than buying new. I walk out of the store elated. A disappointing triumph.
We arrive at Pine Hill Campground near our old home in Fleetwood. We will spend a weekend at Irene's Mom's house and then visit with her sister Marge while taking care of emptying our storage garages, catching up with our mail, and doing some banking. We will retain our Pennsylvania domicile even though we only spend a few weeks a year there. This is the time I've been waiting for, a chance to see people's faces when they see me for the first time. Generally, I am not disappointed. They register surprise and pleasure. People we've known less well either don't notice or don't say. The campground manager says she doesn't recognize me, but perhaps she doesn't remember either. Irene's Mom does a double-take. Carla, Irene's youngest sister, seems genuinely pleased for me, saying I look like I did when Irene and I got married. Balderdash - there are just too many wrinkles and too many years for that to be true. But it's nice to hear, anyway.
I give all my trousers and fat-guy shirts to Jim Taylor. He can't wear the trousers, but seems pleased he can get into all the shirts I give him. Suddenly there's room in our closet and my shelves. I can wear button-up shirts that have never really fit me before. I can even button the collars and begin to think wearing a tie might not be so bad after all. I try on my suit and sport coat. Both are so large they are not wearable. What do I have put away from former successful weight loss periods hanging in closets in Keene Valley? Did we give them away in despair or keep them in hope? We'll see in a couple of weeks.
It's great to see the kids and their kids. But it's even greater to have them see me. They register surprise and pleasure. We visit Rick and Susie. Rick wants us to see little Alex on the roller blades we gave him for his birthday, so we head for a nearby school parking lot. Alex skates with increased speed, confidence, and maneuverability. I find myself with hockey stick in hand running around the parking lot trying to dribble past Alex. I don't remember when I last felt like running. We drive to Windham to see Alex and Sandra's new house, hidden away on a dirt road. Again, surprise and pleasure. The kids all seem to have survived a winter with us away.
During this month, I've allowed myself some vegetables and even some carbs. I bought some pure peanut butter and have had small portions of it. Since we've been on the road a lot, I've been eating various kinds of protein bars, sometimes for two meals a day. They taste like sawdust, but get better with familiarity. Unfortunately, they don't hold from meal to meal and I've been experiencing some hunger for the first time since the operation. I look forward to meals and crave some variety in my diet. One noontime we are out and about. I get an urge for Chinese food and we go to a buffet. I take a plate and carefully put small portions of several different dishes on the plate. I eat slowly and try to savor the meal. As we leave, I realize I've eaten too much and I don't feel well. Irene drives while I let the overeating work its way through me. While I haven't experienced either vomiting or diarrhea as a result of overeating, a small amount extra sure sends a clear message. I still spend too much time thinking about food, but my ability to maintain portion control is still good.
Getting thinner has provided many new pleasures. One of the greatest is the ability to rise easily from a chair and with only a little more effort to get off the floor. This means that getting down onto the floor no longer means extra thought or extensive contortions. I'm more helpful around the house and more willing to do little things for myself and for Irene. I don't grumble about running errands or putting my dishes in the sink or folding my clothes and putting them away. I think my disposition has improved, too, especially around meal time, when I don't get anxious or upset any longer.
The month has been exciting and fulfilling. The
adventure continues.