Small Victories

About 6 months ago, I would look in the mirror, not liking what I saw. But I was in denial. My jeans were getting tighter, but I kept thinking: I will exercise more, someday.

This scene has been played out often in my life; often enough for me to consider it a pattern. I just knew that, like before, I needed an incentive to start doing something about it.

So, the first thing I did was to face reality. I wanted to lose 5 pounds. 10 would be better, but I would start with 5. What did it for me, being Catholic, was that the beginning of Lent was just around the corner. I started to think about what I was going to "give up" for Lent. There has been a lot of emphasis lately by the church to let us know that we really do not have to "give up" anything, but we should definitely think of sacrificing something that is pleasurable to us. Nevertheless, as a lifelong Catholic, I started thinking about what would I sacrifice for Lent. I decided, and it wasn't easy, to give up sweets, mainly dessert-type sweets. That was a good start, I have only messed up once, so far.

That was enough of an incentive for me to tell myself "no more midnight snacks, or eating anything after dinner." The hardest part was the first few days. I was used to grabbing the bag of chips and dips, or whatever else was around. Usually this was between 8-10 PM.

A little bit of history: My mother, 80 years old, and mostly bedridden, needed someone to help her in the evenings after her caregiver left. I would go to my mother's house to tend to her needs, which was not easy. I learned a lot of nursing care, and many a time I would feel glad that I never finished my nursing school. And, to be fair, I got some help from my two sisters, and some from my brothers. Being the one with the most flexible schedule, I felt it was my duty. A labor of love. Now, after some serious medical setbacks for my Mom, we had to look at putting her into a skilled nursing facility. It seems to be working out, and she gets the care she needs from professionals.
I will also say that I love my Mom, but it still wasn't easy. I would feel so stressed sometimes, that I would "reward" myself when I came home, with a glass of wine, which I felt, tasted better accompanied by some snack. Thank God that I never have had the capacity for more than one, maybe two glasses of wine. Who knows what would have happened to me if I had been able to handle more than that!

So, back to my diet. I, so far, have been good about not eating after dinner. Once or twice, when hunger pangs would hit, I would eat some grapes, or an orange.

But, I'm happy to say that my clothes fit better now. I guess I have lost a couple of pounds, though I don't weigh myself often. The way my clothes fit tells me more than what the scale says.

Maintaining your weight is a lifelong process. It never gets easier. I hope to make it a habit.

Japan

How we view the world makes us who we are. For instance, some people just see what's happening right around them. Some see what's happening in their house, their family, and that is their view of the world, the world they live in.

I don't know why, but I have always been in tune with what's happening in the whole world, our planet. I started reading the newspaper at age 10. From then on, I've realized that what happens elsewhere, though it may be far away, directly or indirectly affects me. I think that what happens in one part of the world affects all of us, some of us are just more keenly aware of the meaning of it all.

One example, of course is 9/11. It was like a cloud, a grey cloud descended on the world, and made us focus on good and evil. We realized how vulnerable we all are. We experienced a collective depression, because we knew that we are not in control of our surroundings. It's as if we were little kids and the schoolyard bully decided he just doesn't like you. For no reason at all. A totally helpless feeling, because we knew that no matter what we did, the bully just didn't like us, and would not be happy until we were totally destroyed.

The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear catastrophe were caused by Mother Nature, I don't know who decided that nature was a female, but nontheless, this female is fierce. The song "I am woman hear me roar" comes to mind, but not very appropriate here.

I don't know what other people do, but I pray that the whole situation will not be as damaging to the environment and the people in Japan (and elsewhere in the world.) I pray all the time. In the last few years, there has been very little good news. Turn on the TV, watch the latest world happenings on the internet, and just in conversations with friends and acquaintances, the current events seem to be mostly bad.

As a believer in God, I know that He gave us hope as a gift. We must not lose hope. I am a great believer in the resiliency of the human being, and I know we will, and the people of Japan will, rise above the way things are now.

It's funny how even 9/11 has faded somewhat from our memories, thanks to the passage of time. I think that every time there is a new cataclysm or disaster, we think about the end of the world. But the world keeps going on and so do we. Mother Nature renews and rebuilds itself.

The Bible says that no one knows when the end of the world will be, only God Himself knows. So I try to remember that.

I pray for the people of Japan, in the meantime.

The Wealthy Immigrants

It's been a while since I wrote a blog. Sometimes I would feel like I needed to write, just for the sake of continuity and consistency. But laziness has been winning far too many times, and I must put a stop to it. The laziness, I mean.

So I haven't exercised consistently either. Wow! I sound like a real slacker, don't I? Guilty, as charged. In reality, I do some worthwhile things; such as some volunteering and visiting my mother and making sure that she is OK. Being OK when you're 80 is different than being OK when you're say, 40. But I will have to write another blog on that subject.

How easily I get distracted! My reason for writing this blog is that I wanted to let whoever reads this log, that San Antonio is experiencing a wave of immigration from Mexico. No, not the illegal kind, which tend to be poor and uneducated. They come to make money, and, let's face it, Texas used to belong to Spain and Mexico, so it is not completely foreign to them. Spanish is spoken by about half the population. I feel compassion for these illegals, "there but for the grace of God go I." I urge others to have a soft heart for them also, they have such hard lives.

The wealthy Mexican Nationals, however, do not look any different than the "Anglos" here in the U.S. They have nannies for their children, and send their children to mostly private schools. They have bought homes in gated communities, drive nice cars. In short, they have boosted the economy here in Texas, mostly in bilingual San Antonio, where they feel at home. They are the new wealthy. They are opening up businesses, mostly restaurants and bars.

I say "Bienvenidos" to these Mexicanos, and "gracias" for infusing some vitality to our economy. And also by thereby adding some new blood to out city.