Is That Really Me? Where Did I Go?

 

On Sunday when Kym was here visiting, we looked through the family photo albums.  I came across my prom picture.  Can you believe I actually thought I was fat in this picture??  I honestly felt like burning it up I was so ashamed of my weight!!!  What in the world was I ever thinking??!!  Lucky for me, I am a pack rat and have a hard time parting with even the things I don’t like.

Yep, that was me in May of 1978.  We had our prom at The Hotel Del Coronado in the Crown Room.  Very elegant.  I loved it.  I felt like a princess that night.  We had the first fancy dinner I had ever been to in my young life.  We also strolled along the beach on that dreamy night of long ago.  I can still hear the sound of the waves.  To this day, Coronado Beach is my favorite beach to go to.  And, oh, you should see the homes on Coronado Island!!  I actually did private nursing duty in one of them for a retired admiral’s wife when I was 19.    

The picture below was taken from heading north on Silver Strand (a long, narrow isthmus that connects the mainland near Imperial Beach with Coronado “Island”, which is actually the north end of the isthmus.  Silver Strand got it’s name from all the silver shells that decorate 2  1/2 miles of the coastline side of the isthmus).  See the Hotel Del Coronado straight ahead?  It is a big hotel with a lot of history.  Here is the website:  http://www.hoteldel.com/

Today when I got up I didn’t feel so good.  Just general ickyness.  You know – tired and sick.  Well, I am sick and tired of feeling tired and sick, as the saying goes.  So this morning I went online and looked up my health issues (mitral valve prolapse, irregular heartbeat, my back and neck injury, etc) to figure out the best plan of action to get myself out of this pitiful slump I am in.

I am tired of making excuses for myself to myself (yes, I meant to say it like that!).  I am tired of moaning “Oh my back” to myself all day long because I moved the wrong way.  It is time to say goodbye to the deadbeats that have moved into my brain convincing my body that there is no hope for it.

So today I have been working on an overhaul plan – mental, physical and emotional.  I would love to get up in the morning and be my old, busy, energetic self again.  But I know it will take time to build my stamina up to that.  I am going to take baby steps, though, and everyday get better and better. 

Sigh, I know I will never look like the above picture again… oh youth is wasted on the young isn’t it?  What I took for granted! 

But, I can look better than I do right now by a long shot.  It will take work, it will take patience and it will take effort everyday.  But I am determined that in a year, you will see a much nicer picture of me posted on this blog site!

Goal #1 – find something everyday to be positive about my life and my surroundings.   I am so lucky to live in San Diego County.  It is such a beautiful area.  We have the mountains, the desert, the beaches and the valleys.  One minute you are in the country, 20 minutes later you are in a downtown metropolis.  I love it.   Tons of parks.  Miles and miles of beaches.  Stores and shops and more stores.  So much history everywhere.  You can be in a crowd of people at an amusement park or find a quiet place in the mountains to listen to the wind blow through the tall pine trees.

Oh, San Diego, I missed you so much when I lived in Iowa!  (and now I miss the Midwest since I am back on the West Coast…. go figure!)