Weight Watchers, Weddings and Wee Wailing Little Ones. Word.

I started Weight Watchers on Wednesday with my mom. I'm drinking a lot of water and trying to "drink the Kool-Aid" (aka believe in and work "the program") without the benefit all of that lovely cynicism that got me overweight in the first place : ) It's a good program, I feel, but it really does require a lot of sincerity where you want there to be a lot of giggling and ordering take out. Our leader (of our first meeting) was a 40+ Brazilian lady and she had a heavy accent and everyone's number. She knew her stuff. It's hard to watch your eating habits be busted and called out in broken English in front of a crowd. I felt like Roberta Flack... how did she find my letters...

Anyway, I've lost 4 pounds in 3 days because I stopped eating constantly, but that loss rate should slow down shortly. Hopefully I can stick with it and not make exceptions every time there's someone else in the room to give me an excuse. I am tired of being tired. I want to feel young and in charge of my body, not old and divorced from it. I want to experience the once familiar exhilaration of physical exhaustion from challenging exercise, rather than the humiliation of being winded from climbing 30 steps at the T. I want a 2 piece bathing suit. We'll see : )

In other news, my niece started Kindergarten Thursday and seems about 15 to me now. I babysat the other night and little angel face woke up in the night with a terrible fever and ear ache. We made it through ok, thankfully (really, mom came home and fixed everything). but it's sort of humbling when these little arms, hot to the touch from the fever, reaching out for you because they believe in their innocent hearts that you can make it better. It puts things in perspective. The idea that any other person, 5 years old or not, can reach out to me and expect me to make it better or at least be there to share the hurt... I don't know. It makes me remember how love and family and being really in the now with your life can be as important as having it all figured out in the big picture.

I am excited about going to a wedding next weekend of an old friend and his lovely new bride to be. There is really just so much happening around me lately. Some of my friends are falling in love, some are dealing with death, some are just "heel toe-ing" it from day to day and doing the best they can to live with some kind of panache and positive energy. I am inspired by my friends and their ability to, all in their own unique ways, live their lives passionately, swooping up the others around them in their current and leaving the world (i.e. other human beings) better off for them having decided to live that way.

Btw, my niece awoke the next morning feeling fine and without a hint of needing me for anything. Life is about those moments, but you know, the kids' gotta get on the bus and go to school. Life goes on. No matter what you do. Does it sound like Fred Savage just said that?