Yes, it feels like it was just yesterday...and yet it feels as though it has been weeks since we had that special meal that is shared once a year. A meal that is usually spent with those that you are usually related to or have some importance in your life or sometimes someone that has nowhere to go. Well, for me that is how it is, but I know for others it is not quite as great of an event. This year’s Thanksgiving had many similarities to the past Thanksgivings of recent years and yet there were some definite differences to this years festivities.
I started off the morning with a phone call from my brother which forced me to get out of my nice and cozy bed to get prepared for the world. It was only 9 o’clock in the morning and I didn’t have school so I was definitely trying to take advantage of the extra time to sleep. My brother wasn’t having any of that which was fine because truthfully I hadn’t seen him in a good couple of weeks anyway. So, I got out of bed and prepared for his arrival. We had no plans to head over to my sisters place right away because she was also trying to take advantage of the day off from school as well.
So, what do brothers got to do to pass the time? Play games of course. Thats right! It wasn’t even noon and we played a game of Stratego. That is how my brother and I roll. And you know what I might have to start making it a Thanksgiving tradition. We had a lot of fun playing Stratego which my brother did end up winning. I’m pretty sure, however, that he was cheating. He always moves his bombs around. We will most likely have a rematch around Christmas time so I will keep you posted.
So, after that epic battle was finished we both got ready to head over to my sisters place. This is where the biggest change to Thanksgiving happened for me. First, to really explain why this is such a big change for me I have to go back to a bit to set up why I made the change that I did.
So, over this last summer I spent much of time working out while I was out of school. Because of this hard work I lost some more weight and made much progress on my body as a whole. That was one of my main goals over the summer and I did quite well.
On top of this accomplishment I also said on my Facebook that I made a new goal of wanting to make more goals. Well, one of the first goals that I made was I set out to do an abdominal workout for 30 days straight. I didn’t just want to set more goals for myself I wanted to set smaller goals to achieve in a shorter periods of time. I have many long term goals for myself, but I hadn’t done many short term goals.
As you can see from the picture above of the piece of paper that was at the side of my bed that for 30 days straight I dated the piece of paper to show myself that I had completed the workout. It was pretty tough to do 30 days straight I will admit. Not the workout itself, but sometimes I would forget in my busy schedule between work and school. Sometimes I even woke myself up in the middle of the night just to complete it. The only days that I missed were days I was sick. I did however go over the 30 days to make up for the days I lost from being sick to be fair to myself.
So, with every goal you need some kind of reward. For me I chose the prize of this goal to be a new outfit. As I got closer to my goal I realized that I hadn’t given myself a prize for my hard work over the summer. So, I decided to add it onto my current goal and so I upped the prize a bit. The new prize for meeting my goal was not just an outfit, but instead a more serious outfit. A classy outfit if you will for the new person that I’m becoming everyday. I told myself a long time ago that as I start to losing weight and transform myself into a healthier me I would follow suit by matching the outside with the inside. This dressing up for Thanksgiving is a huge check point for myself. Not many know truly how great it made me feel to have that kind of pride in who I am.
See most of my life because of my weight I was kind of a slob or at least I looked like one by the way I dressed. It is also very hard to find fancy clothes for someone that is larger in size. Let me assure you that there where years I was bigger than the pictures I have shown on this blog so far. Most Thanksgivings I would literally roll out of bed and go to the table in whatever I was wearing. Now days life is very different for me and so I have made different choices in this department because of these differences. I have over the last few years worn a nice button up shirt casually to Thanksgiving, but I still had a desire to go further. As I get closer to where I want to be with my body I want to dress accordingly to match that. Well, although I’m not finished on my journey of where I want to go with my body I’m definitely at a point that I can start going to different places with my wardrobe. This Thanksgiving is the first step into new territory of my wardrobe and there will be many more to come.
It seems like just a little thing to be so excited and proud of wearing a tie with vest, but if you knew the days I have been through with clothes then you would be excited too. Many painful years to tell you the truth.
Progress.
We all must appreciate ourselves even the little things. In honor of my father I put some orange in my outfit to represent him (his favorite color) since he was the biggest factor to help me to make many health changes in my life.
When I finally was done looking at myself in the mirror over and over trying to figure out who this man was that was standing in the mirror in front of me we made or way to my sisters Magic Cottage.
When we got there I was happy to see that she was awake and busy in the kitchen when I walked through her door. To start it was just us three (My sister Paula, My brother Justin, and myself) at my sisters place working away in the kitchen. I did some prep work for her and then we all helped make the dessert. Eventually my mother showed up. She was followed shortly after by my grandmother and her boyfriend Hal. The mingling started as my sister put the rest of the meal together.
The rest of us played a game that my brother had bought at a gaming convention we went to over the summer. The game is called Cover Your Assets. While at the convention we got to meet the creators of the game. The game is very simple, but once everyone understands how the game is played it starts to get ruthless. My brother ended up feeling most of that ruthlessness in the two rounds we played because he came in dead last both times (that’s what you get for cheating at Stratego). It’s one of those games where we stress that it breaks up families as we start playing it. We made it through two rounds before dinner was served and although my brother might have been a little pissed, thankfully our family was still intact.
The meal was perfect like usual. My sister rocks at making Thanksgiving dinner.The only exception this year was the dessert we made earlier that day when just the three of us were at my sister’s place. The dessert didn’t turn out as good as we had hoped. Especially since it had been the replacement of pumpkin pie for this years Thanksgiving. It was still edible and I still enjoyed it. Over all I’m very grateful to even have a meal not just on this day, but everyday that I’m alive.
One of the other thing that I want to mention about eating the food at Thanksgiving is that with the serious lifestyle changes I have made in my life and continue to. Those changes have drastically changed my eating the most. I do eat carbs everyday and somedays I still eat more carbs than I should, but I keep realizing each Thanksgiving that I have a hard time eating as many carbs at one meal. I only had one plate that was moderately covered and I definitely filled myself up, but I stopped there. The move to stop eating alone is a HUGE change from Thanksgivings of years past. I remember going back for seconds several times many years ago. Not the Derrick of present day. I got myself to the point of being satisfied and just sipped on some sparkling apple cider till everyone wanted dessert. Dessert was a bit rushed for myself, but I took very small portions. After that was done I don’t know if it was all the carbs turning to sugars on top of the couple of glasses of sparkling cider I had during the day, but I started getting giggly. Mostly to myself of course by many random things, but it was quite funny to see myself this way. It was as if I was getting a buzz without drinking any alcohol. It was rather interesting to feel this way for me since I haven’t had alcohol for many years now.
After dessert we drew names for Christmas, chatted a bit, and then got our leftovers before heading home. Man every year life seems to go faster and faster. I wonder what it will feel like when everything is but a blink of an eye. Regardless it was a day in my life to be plenty thankful for. I’m so grateful for so many things these days and the list keeps growing everyday. I just wanted to take the time to mention a few here to mark them in my timeline.
I’m thankful for:
-Love,
-Loving myself
-A healthy body
-A healthy family
-Having my family be a part of my life
-Having the greatest relationship with my sister
-Having a brother that shares so many fun times together
-My mom for doing so many little things to help me out
-My grandma for loving me and saving me coupons that she gives me.
-For a home to take care of myself and be myself
-For a job and a job that helps me a lot to do the things I need to in life.
-So many great friends. I’m extremely blessed
-The universe for providing me opportunities everyday that I wake up.
Another Thanksgiving down and Christmas is around the corner. Before you know it will be Easter to which I say bring it because I miss my shorts. So the cycle continues.
As always I bring this to you with so much love and D-lite. = )
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