One year ago on November 3rd, my family moved from Central Ohio to the Cleveland area. The overwhelming reason was to be closer to family. My in-laws were elderly and my mother-in-law was declining rapidly. Both they and my parents lived within an hour of Cleveland, and my brother lived 15 minutes away from the suburb that had the best public schools in the state. Moving was very difficult (not the least of which was selling our house), but we made it. My husband's job situation turned out to be less than ideal, so about 6 months ago he took a pay cut and now works in a better, more friendly environment. His mother died this summer, but at least we got to see her a lot more of her for her last 6 months, and now we talk to and see his father much more than we would have been able to do from Columbus. The kids were definitely traumatized by moving in the middle of the school year. Going from being around places and friends they had known since birth to a brand new everything was very hard, and they struggled the last spring and summer. Now their report cards are glowing and they have made new friends, but they still miss their old ones. I miss my old friends too, but I feel like I'm in a healthier mental state here. I know I had the easiest time with the move of the whole family, but I don't know if I would have pushed for the move if I knew how hard it would be on everybody. This one year anniversary in our new home felt like a freeing experience, being able to look back and say "whew, we made it through THAT", but it's still not easy. Worth it, but not easy.
I had my second appointment with the PA who is supervising my diet yesterday. According to his scale I've lost 9 pounds (aha! my adjust-for-the-lying-scale plan worked!) and he was pleased looking over my food and exercise logs. I'm halfway through the 90 days, and going to see him again in a month. Now to keep up the progress - through Thanksgiving, which presents many challenges to those of us dieting... And the newest twist on my vegetarian, some keeping kosher, me on a diet challenged menu - my brother is dealing with a pre-ulcerous condition so he needs low acid (no tomato products) and low fat items. Well, he's always been easy going - it's his turn to make things a little complicated ;)
Now for the funny part. This is the dream I had last night (no psych degree needed for interpretation): I was driving from Columbus to Cleveland to meet the rest of the family that was waiting for me there. I had the last load of things from our old house in my car. As I go through a small town I stop for a drink and see really ominous clouds rolling in. I asked the owners of the town general store if I could go in their basement. The first wave of the storm passes over, causes a power outage but otherwise, not bad. I decide to make a break for my car and head home. As I'm pulling away from the general store, a tornado takes the top half of the store off and then flattens several other buildings before it dissappears. I drove back to see if I could help anyone in the store and end up pulling several of them out. I leave them with some of the supplies I had in my car including coupons for a free meal at McDonald's - but not my nuts because I knew that I had to have protein soon. I got back in the car and drove towards my family knowing I was blessed to have a safe family and home to go towards.
Like I said, my dreams are pretty straightforward. Combining the leaving our old home with leaving my old unhealthy lifestyle, trying to hide and be safe in what turned out to be a dangerous place (hiding from the risk of more sexual harrasment and assault under obesity) but leaving it behind to go where I could really be safe and happy...and trying to help a few people get out from their collapsed building too - that's pretty much me. I'm pretty happy this morning, because I feel like pyschologically I'm pretty healthy now. I've got my focus on the future, and I'm letting go off the bad habits of my past. I'm moving closer emotionally with my family, and now I really will feel safer because my health won't be endangered and I'm strong enough to move obstacles (apparently including fallen beams in a dream house) if neccessary.
I wish I could bottle this feeling for the hard days.
I had my second appointment with the PA who is supervising my diet yesterday. According to his scale I've lost 9 pounds (aha! my adjust-for-the-lying-scale plan worked!) and he was pleased looking over my food and exercise logs. I'm halfway through the 90 days, and going to see him again in a month. Now to keep up the progress - through Thanksgiving, which presents many challenges to those of us dieting... And the newest twist on my vegetarian, some keeping kosher, me on a diet challenged menu - my brother is dealing with a pre-ulcerous condition so he needs low acid (no tomato products) and low fat items. Well, he's always been easy going - it's his turn to make things a little complicated ;)
Now for the funny part. This is the dream I had last night (no psych degree needed for interpretation): I was driving from Columbus to Cleveland to meet the rest of the family that was waiting for me there. I had the last load of things from our old house in my car. As I go through a small town I stop for a drink and see really ominous clouds rolling in. I asked the owners of the town general store if I could go in their basement. The first wave of the storm passes over, causes a power outage but otherwise, not bad. I decide to make a break for my car and head home. As I'm pulling away from the general store, a tornado takes the top half of the store off and then flattens several other buildings before it dissappears. I drove back to see if I could help anyone in the store and end up pulling several of them out. I leave them with some of the supplies I had in my car including coupons for a free meal at McDonald's - but not my nuts because I knew that I had to have protein soon. I got back in the car and drove towards my family knowing I was blessed to have a safe family and home to go towards.
Like I said, my dreams are pretty straightforward. Combining the leaving our old home with leaving my old unhealthy lifestyle, trying to hide and be safe in what turned out to be a dangerous place (hiding from the risk of more sexual harrasment and assault under obesity) but leaving it behind to go where I could really be safe and happy...and trying to help a few people get out from their collapsed building too - that's pretty much me. I'm pretty happy this morning, because I feel like pyschologically I'm pretty healthy now. I've got my focus on the future, and I'm letting go off the bad habits of my past. I'm moving closer emotionally with my family, and now I really will feel safer because my health won't be endangered and I'm strong enough to move obstacles (apparently including fallen beams in a dream house) if neccessary.
I wish I could bottle this feeling for the hard days.
No comments:
Post a Comment