Losing a part of me

I celebrated my latest milestone last night. As I said I would, I enjoyed a steak. It was not my midday meal, which was my usual chicken. No, I had a second meal yesterday. I had a steak, and I had another salad around 7:00pm. Because of that, I was worried that I was going to lose the progress I had made the previous day. While I did gain this morning, it was .2lbs, and nothing earth-shattering. I can live with that, knowing I was able to celebrate and not pay too badly for it.

I spent a lovely afternoon with Lyle and Dorothy yesterday, and while I do not expect to have company for it, I expect that my day today will go similar to yesterday. I will sit on the balcony and smoke a couple of cigars. I will either read or watch movies on my tablet – I watched a documentary about the music of James Bond the other day, and now I am drawn to watching the series in order. I started yesterday with Dr. No, and will probably follow that up with From Russia with Love today. Who knows? I have not been feeling great and want to take it easy. If I was sure that I am not sick, I would take my son the younger for breakfast. These last few days, I have been sneezing and coughing a lot; it could be from allergies, but I suspect it was the sudden exposure to colder weather, and not dressing appropriately for it.

The kids are playing. That is to say, Charlie came over for a short play date, and he and Princess Sophie are frolicking and play-fighting. It is so nice to see them having fun. Unfortunately, it reminds me that my wife and I are apart, and that we will not be able to frolic until her next visit in twenty-six days. Yes, I am counting. Of course I am counting… I have not been able to hold her for the last week since she dropped me off at the airport. Long distance relationships are hard. I am relieved that the sadness over the physical distance between us had not manifested itself in falling off the food wagon. It would be so easy for me to use that as an excuse to gain weight. No, I have to stay strong and stay focused. We will be together soon and forever, and I have to lose weight and get healthy if I want our life together to be a long and happy one.

With that said, my plan for the day is to stay focused and stay on track. I know that there is more temptation while I am sitting at home doing nothing, but at the same time, I can (and will) smoke my cigars and relax, and just try to keep myself distracted and busy. I will make my regular afternoon meal, and I will read and watch TV. At around 2:00pm, someone should be coming to collect a table that I have been trying to sell on Facebook Marketplace. I will be glad to be rid of it, not because it takes up a lot of space or because it is not useful, but because I am trying to slowly downsize. I want to get rid of things that I do not need. Come to think of it, I might list a couple of other items for sale today too. There, after I wrote that sentence, I re-listed my Ikea chair and ottoman for sale. If they sell, I will need to find another way for Princess Sophie to hop up onto the bed.

It is a beautiful day outside, and the temperature is currently on a slow crawl up to a high of 18° Celsius. I put on a short sleeve shirt today, which means that I will be wearing a jacket as I sit outside. I could have avoided that by wearing long sleeves, but that’s life.

I am being stabbed tomorrow and cut on Tuesday. If that sounds like I am having flashbacks to my Army days, I assure you it is nothing so violent. I have scheduled my fourth Covid-19 booster and a flu shot for tomorrow afternoon (the stab). I have scheduled a haircut and beard trim (the cut) for Tuesday. It seems like I am actually acting somewhat responsibly these days, taking care of what needs taking care of. Who knows? Maybe the shots will make me lose my appetite for a few weeks!? Probably not… nothing else ever has. Although I will say that as Lyle and Dorothy discussed a particular sandwich yesterday (that I am sure is very good, but as a reasonably observant Jew is anathema to me) I thought I might lose my lunch. Not the same, is it?

Have a great day folks! It is officially Cigar O’Clock!