Summer's End

Happy Labor Day to the Misdirected family. I hope you are all out at the lake, or driving your RV, or drinking beer (but not all 3 at the same time) for this final blowout of Summer 2016.

While walking the dog over the weekend, Lor and I had a little chat about this summer. We didn't get to go camping at all. We had no resort weekends. (Hospital stays do NOT count as resorts.) We spent the majority of our time close to home: drinking protein shakes, recovering from surgeries, going to endless rounds of doctor's office visits.

And it was probably one of the best summers we've had in a long time.

Really, we got a lot done. We bought a house, for goodness' sake. We helped a friend move to Tucson. I began writing professionally. Lor restarted her crafting projects. And, oh yeah, there was that surgery/weight loss thing...

Seriously: Memorial Day 2016, Lor and I, as a household, weighed 486 pounds.

Labor Day 2016? 411 pounds.

When is the last time your household dropped 75 pounds over the summer?

Mainly what this summer has represented to us is an investment in summers to come. We gave up camping this year so that we could really enjoy camping and hiking in the future. We stayed close to home now so that, the next time we travel, we will be full of energy and joy. I have given up overeating as my main recreation of choice - meaning that in the future I will be able to enjoy things like swimming, riding bikes, and hiking longer distances. I went through surgery so that I will no longer be an anchor that ties those who love me down as they slow their pace down to let me keep up. Lor spent some time recovering from surgery so that she no longer has to deal with a daily chore involving needles and insulin injections. 

I think it was a good investment. It has certainly done wonders for our relationship: nothing draws you closer together than being accountable to one another for your new behaviors. We have become one another's coaches and cheerleaders. (And, in Lor's case, my fashion consultant.) Neither of us is wistfully watching the other succeed and feeling left out. We are succeeding together - which has made us stronger, and less apt to fall down on our faces.

Though, bad days like The Great Ice Cream Incident do still occur from time to time.

Thanks for dropping by and sharing your summer with us over the past few months. We've got even more exciting things coming up right around the corner, and are looking forward to what the remainder of 2016 has in store.

Heck, I am looking forward to having my picture taken at Christmas this year for the first time since EVER.

Next Stop: Halloween Costumes!

- Hawkwind

The Summer That Wasn't

Photo Credit: Jerry Fornarotto via Compfight cc

It is the last week of April - usually time to think about things like Mother's Day, the Diamondbacks' position in the NL West (3rd place, at 11-12), and our plans for the summer. This year, our normal plans for summer activities have been thrown totally into chaos and madness by the relentless approach of my Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy surgical date, and all the minutiae that accompany it.

Our semi-annual trip to watch the Rockies play the D-Backs in Denver? Probably not going to happen. Camping trips? Find me a week on my calendar that isn't filled with support group meetings, appointments with the nutritionist or other pre-surgical items, and then we'll talk about heading into the Great Outdoors. Double down on all these dates to represent Lor's surgical timeline, and watch the days and weeks of the calendar fill up. The weeks leading up to surgery are filled with pre-surgical items galore, and the weeks following it will be filled with recovery, liquid diets and restrictions on how much a person can lift. Overall, not a prescription for a fun-filled summer.  

It certainly isn't all bad. To celebrate all the usual parties and get-togethers we would normally have with my family over the summer (Mother's Day, Father's Day, 4th of July, my birthday), we are instead having one "catch-all" holiday over Memorial Day weekend. We will fill it with small portions of foods we will no longer be able to eat, alcohol we will be restricted from for the rest of the year (and my last beers EVER), and everyone's last interaction with Lor and I before our surgeries. Call it my family "Before Picture". By the last day of summer, Lor and I will both be out of surgical recovery, probably back on normal foods, and heading into our new lives together. And the holiday season this year should be pretty cool as well.

And next summer? Next summer will be awesome. All the activities I have held us back from for so long because of my size will now be open to us. We can participate in the Albuquerque 5K Run For The Zoo. We will head to South Dakota to visit our friends there, since I should no longer be miserable during long car rides. When we go camping, we will actually be able to get out into the woods and hike instead of sitting around the campfire. Heck, we might even get on a plane and fly somewhere, since I should no longer be dealing with the problem of taking up 1.5 seats on an airplane. We might even go to Phoenix, to watch some games there - something I currently avoid like the plague because there is nothing more miserable than an obese person in Phoenix during baseball season. Trust me on this one.

All this long term future gained, for the sacrifice of a few months this year. I may not happy about the sacrifice of summer right now, but I would bet dollars to donuts that I will have a very different opinion about things come Summer 2017.

Still Undecided About My Last Beer Ever,

- Hawkwind