Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Thankful November

Today is the beginning of a new month.  November really is one of my favorite months of the year.  The weather is usually quite nice still for the most part.  There is Thanksgiving, my dad's birthday and my birthday to celebrate all in the second half of the month.  The mad rush of the October reporting month is over and behind us.  The year is wrapping up.
This year I've issued myself a challenge, and made it known to some of my online friends.  Last year I did just over half the month of posting every day about something I was thankful for that day.  Well, this year I intend on doing that for the entire month.  I'll try and also keep up with the family news and my thoughts, but this month I am going to focus on the positive and find something to be thankful for, no matter how big or small, every day.

Today I am thankful for community.  I am thankful for two separate and distinct communities.

I'm so very thankful for my community of friends.  We can laugh together, cry together, have good times and bad together.  And we're there for each other through it all.  It's been a bit of a rough year in spots for some of us.  Some of us (me and my family) have fared better than others.  But, we're all here and we're all together.

Last night Steph brought Billy and Zoe over to go trick-or-treating.  (I have a picture of the kids, but I have to download it.)  We got a bit of a later start than we wanted and so many people were already out of treats.  That's quite all right in my book.  Less temptation for me!  The kids all had fun.  Zoe was a vampire princess, Billy was Darth Vader and Boo was kitty-cat boy.  I can't tell you how cute he was and how funny/cute it was to watch him run down the sidewalk with his tail peaking out from under his sweatshirt and bobbing right along behind him.  Boo loved it.  I somehow get the feeling that those sweats are permanently kitty-cat boy pants now.

The other community I'm thankful for I was barely involved with last year.  I'm actually quite thankful for a group of friends and spirit sisters I've met on the Weight Watchers community boards.  There are some spirit brothers there as well who I've found support from and been able to support as well.  But this small little group (or not so small these days!) of mostly women have done wonders for me the last few months.  We've all had ups and downs, triumphs and setbacks.  I've been able to provide support and insight and when I've needed it, they've been able to make me laugh or give me insight or point out things I'd told them that I should listen to myself.

I'll be honest here, my weight loss has stalled.  Most days, I don't really care about that fact.  I've reached the weight I was when I graduated college.  For so long that had been my desire.  I'm actually smaller in size now than I was then; I have more muscle now than I did then.  I proved this with the garb I was wearing yesterday.  (Yes, there is a picture, but it's on the camera...)  I had to take in the elastic in my undermost skirt about 6" and I hadn't worn the bodice I wore yesterday in about 5 years because it was too small and I'm not sure I'd ever laced it as tight as I did yesterday.  Also, my most favorite Irish dress is too big, probably by about two sizes, and I got that about a year or so after I graduated college.

Sure, there's a part of me that would love to loose another 15 to 20 lb.  And I'm sure I will at some point.  There just isn't a strong drive to get there now.  But, thanks to the ladies in my Weight Watchers group, I know that it is OK to feel that way and that if I ever feel like throwing in the towel and just stop paying as close attention to what goes in my mouth, they'll remind me of how far I've come and some little nugget of wisdom (sometimes a very little nugget...) that kept them from giving up and I'll carry on.  I think half the reason I still pay for my online membership is because I like seeing these other people and being able to encourage them and share in their victories, even if mine are quite small these days.

So, here's to a month of being thankful for the things in my life both big and small, near and far.  Hopefully I'll be able to do something this month that I haven't been able to all year, and that is post something, even a small something, every day.

Peace to all and may you have a community of friends to help support you and to help support.

1 comment:

Autumn Heartsong said...

I'm loving this blog and this post, in particular. I feel the same way about our online friends and about those in my face-to-face circle, as well. We are strong...and made stronger when we share each other's strengths and weaknesses. Life is good. :)