Losing a part of me

Travel, whether by air or by car, will always wreak havoc on the bathroom scale for a day or two. The fact that I am up significantly from Thursday is frustrating, but not overly worrisome. The fact that I did indulge somewhat – I had more peanuts than I should have, I had some karnatzl from Smoked Meat Pete’s, I had Corn Flakes for breakfast, and at lunch on Friday I helped Red with some of her poutine… not a lot you understand, but some. Also, of course I had two lovely chicken meals on Saturday – are factors as well, and I will not blame the entire weight gain on travel. I did not let myself go this weekend, but I did not completely maintain discipline.

I will say though that I did show a level of restraint that I did not previously think possible. There are two feats that I accomplished that I am more or less stunned by.

1. Saturday afternoon I went to West Island Bagel, and I picked up a dozen Montreal bagels (If you are not familiar with this delicacy then you are missing out!) that were fresh from the oven. I split the bag into two bags of six, which then sat in my car until yesterday evening. The first six I gave to Ryan and Lyndsay, who took care of HRF Princess Sophie for the weekend in my absence. The second six are in my freezer, and I will defrost one tomorrow morning for Leslie to enjoy with Kraft Crunchy Peanut Butter for breakfast. If she wants a second one, she shall have it!
2. Last week Lyle asked if, while I was in Montreal, I would mind stopping by Smoked Meat Pete’s to pick up a pound of Montreal Smoked Meat for him and for Dorothy. There are some people who will say that they will do anything for friends, and there are some who mean it. I assure you that while Lyle knows of my weight loss plan, that was not on his mind when he asked me to walk into this den of iniquity, this garden of temptation, the home of my absolute diet kryptonite. I figured if I was in for a penny, I was in for a pound… I asked my son (the elder) if he wanted a pound for them to enjoy as well. That is how and why I found myself, returning from the cemetery, standing in line at one of my favourite Montreal delicatessens. It would have been so easy to order the two pounds of meat, and a medium old-fashioned sandwich with extra mustard and a side of fries. How easy it would be to justify that on the day of my father’s yahrzeit I should go and indulge in his favourite meal… it was a tribute and a memorial, and not an indulgence! No. I ordered the meat, and a side order of karnatzl, which was my only deli cheat. It was not good… but it was orders of magnitude better than it could have been, and better than I expected!

Today is the day. No, it is not the day that I fly to Cuba on holiday – that is tomorrow. However, knowing that this evening I will be picking Leslie up from the airport is, for me, more exciting than going to the island beach vacation paradise. That she and I will be doing that together tomorrow is gravy, but I would be happy just having her here. We have been apart too long! I have a lot of errands to run today, but the last checkbox is to drive to Pearson International and to wait in the Cell Phone Waiting Lot for the call that says, ‘I have my luggage.’ I miss her so much!

What else do I have to do today? Let’s see… I have a few small things to do, but they are just close-to-home errands. I am not going to go on one of my long walks – I do not want to get onto the airplane tomorrow feeling zonked. I will try to see my son the elder (smoked meat is a good excuse) and possibly even my son the younger (as I will not be able to see him this coming weekend, owing to my being out of town). Like every Israeli, I am not one to pack the day before I travel… but I will do laundry and organize my stuff. I did not look in the fridge so I do not know if I have food in the house, so I might need to do some shopping. Other than that? I have gone to the bank, I have bought everything that I think I need to bring to Cuba (including for my buddy), and if someone were to call me right now to say ‘Mitch, you have to go to the airport in 20 minutes!’ I would have everything I need to throw into the suitcase and go. Of course, I do need my girlfriend to get here, but I am set to collect her this evening!

One thing that I will do that will affect my blog readers: After posting today’s article (which you are currently reading), I am going to receive a notification from WordPress that reads something like: “You are on a 110-day streak!” While I might be able to blog every day from Cuba, it is not always guaranteed that the Internet will be available. What I will do is this: I am going to write placeholder articles for every day that I am away, and I will schedule them to post at 4:00pm every day. That way, if I am able to connect and post then great, but if I am not, then I will not lose my streak. Yes, that is petty… but what are we gonna do, right?

Oh, I came to a decision this weekend. I am finishing my current games on Words with Friends and will then uninstall the game from all of my devices. I have been playing the game religiously for eight years, and I decided it is time to stop. It is a good distraction and timewaster, but just maybe I have wasted a little too much time on it.

I am stressed. I am really looking forward to seeing Leslie tonight, which will make my life better… and then we go on vacation, which will make our lives even better.

Have a great day!