Refusing to Wake Up on the Old and Cranky Side of the Bed

Here I am on my 35th Birthday.  Be sure to glance at the bottom for

a peek at six earlier birthdays.  Here's to getting better with age!

I haven't been blogging much and though I spare you the details: between two weeks of crippling snow (and kids at home) and then a ten day, family-wide illness, it feels great to be back. I turned thirty five yesterday and I woke up in a mood suitable for the most curmudgeonly old coot at the old folks home.

I tried to put on a happy face but it just wouldn't take. So, after dropping my oldest off to school, I headed to one of my favorite little spots on the face of the earth and walked along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, bag in hand, wind and rain in my face, and scoured the beach for pieces of sea glass.

The weather was cold and wet and the forty-five minute drive there depressing. Further enhancing my melancholy was my iPod which was set on shuffle but could have been made into a play list entitled Put the Gun to My Head. My friends keep telling me I have a depressing iPod. Now I get it. I should be a miserable soul with the sappy, old music I listen to.

The front porch at the Whitehaven Bed and Breakfast, where I sat as I waited to board
the three-car Whitehaven Ferry, which I took on my journey South toward the Bay.

After what seemed like a very slow ride I arrived and moments later my boots hit the sand. I walked along, reaching down every so many feet to pick up interesting items. A rocky surf and some unfavorable weather left the beach loaded with treasure as I was the only person willing to walk through the icy, salty wind during the slack tide.

Even in the cold, the salt air instantly gave me a lift and I felt like a new person. I am always amazed at the magic that exists at that exact spot where the land meets the sea. I am equally giddy about all things that glitter and shine in the sand. With the sun tucked deep behind misty clouds, bits of shells, rocks, glass and pottery still managed to light up the shoreline and bring out the child inside.

The day's take: pretty and colorful pieces of sea glass along with

some pottery, sea brick, drift wood and oyster shells.  Oyster shells never

have the same magic about them once you return home but the allure 

of the saline-coated, bivalve fragments gets me everytime, nonetheless. 

A short time later, I kicked the sand off of my boots and stepped out of the piercing wind and back into my warm car. Refreshed and renewed, I turned on the car and was happy to discover that even my iPod had received an attitude adjustment. Never mind that it most likely had something to do with a stiff, frost-bitten finger that hit the "genius" button. I headed up the rode with a happy assortment of cowboy tunes, all the while looking forward to the rest of the day. You just can't go wrong with an assortment of cowboy tunes.

The remainder of my day included lunch at a non-kid-friendly establishment with my husband, a visit to the ice cream shop for some seasonal Tax Crunch ice cream with the kids, an attempt to go bowling, a trip to the emergency room for some stitches for my youngest (who attempted to bust up a bowling ball with her chin), followed by take-out pizza and tiramisu with my family. Even with the ER visit thrown in, it turned out to be a pretty good day.

My loot: A Townes Van Zant CD that has been on my Amazon Wish List for

years!  Also pictured, my labradorite ring, a personal gift  from Robert Redford. 

Hey, it's my fantasy :-)  Not pictured: Scent-locker hunting boots and

Carhart overalls. There you have it: makings of one happy country girl.

I have spent a lot of years of my life not taking the best care of myself. Now I fill my body up each day with the foods that allow me to feel my best. I know that I am getting my daily nutritional needs met from food because I log all of my meals at a free food journaling website known as Nutri Mirror.  I exercise several days per week under the skilled guidance of a personal trainer, Maria Coccodrilli, who stresses the importance of eating well as a complement to my workouts. The pictures do not lie; what you see is not some half-baked, pudged-up, faked-out or exaggerated before and after. Illustrated here is a chronological record of many years of my life, birthday after birthday, weight fluctuation after weight fluctuation. I no longer diet. Dieting is what I did when I struggled to lose weight. Today I am in balance.

I believe I am entitled to a birthday wish. My wish is to anyone out there who has struggled to begin taking steps to become healthy. You do not have to turn your world upside down.   Begin by making some healthy changes you can live with. When those click, add a few more. Evolve into good health at your own pace.  It's a big wish, I know, but I know you can do it.  And if it isn't too much to ask, I hope that I never get too old to take pleasure in finding sparkly things in the sand. ~

 

I've come a long way, baby.