Happy New Year!

Yesterday was my birthday.  The day began with dozens of virtual greetings from friends on Facebook, and the girls showering me with presents before everyone headed off to school and work.  I actually love that birthdays in our family are largely episodes in practicality:  From Molly and the girls I got the wallet I've desperately needed (along with a couple movies I wanted but certainly didn't "need") AND a new Mickey Mouse/baseball antenna ball in honor of my beloved Cardinals' Opening Day.  From my mothers I received cash and a gift card.  But practicality really won the day when it came to birthday dessert.  Instead of birthday cake leftovers remaining (and being eaten) over several days, we dipped bites of banana, strawberries, marshmallow, and pound cake into chocolate fondue.  A few bites and I was plenty full, and filled with joy in seeing our girls' happy, messy faces.  Here's a clip of Norah with a chocolate-covered marshmallow and the hilarious "Chubby Bunny" routine:

But the real birthday surprise came yesterday before I logged into Facebook or opened presents.  Sometime shortly after surgery, I set a series of audacious weight-loss goals of targets I hoped to achieve by my birthday (roughly two months post-op), Annual Conference (four months post-op), and family vacation time (six months post-op).  Perhaps calling them goals is a bit of a misnomer; "goals" somehow implies I believe I have full control over the outcome, when in reality there's an awful lot of all the change my body is going through that feels beyond my power.  Well, I hopped on the scale Tuesday and I discovered I had met my initial goal!  I'm not yet ready to share with the world the specifics, not so much because I'm embarrassed where I started (which, honestly, I am), but because I'm still in-process.  Like Kenny Rogers says, you're not supposed to count your money when you're sittin' at the table....  Nevertheless, supposedly I'll lose most of my extra weight within six months of surgery.

Of course, I may have gained it all back today.  Today is the first day I have been consistently hungry at predictable times.  Unlike too many days in the past few weeks, I ate well (a quarter cup of cereal for breakfast, a few bites of soup for lunch, a smoothie in the afternoon, and an ounce of leftover steak for supper) and kept everything down.  Not coincidentally, I've felt more joyous and energetic today since this journey began.  I'm hoping that on this, the first day of my 38th year, the proverbial corner has been turned.  We shall see.  Happy New Year.