Hello, Everyone!

October 26, 2008

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long! I've been reading, but not

responding (in writing. I'm responding A LOT, emotionally, lol!)

My dad passed away 4 weeks ago. He'd been sick with melanoma for a

while, but had been feeling good. Then one day he started having

seizures, and had a small stroke. A CT scan showed that the lesions

in his brain were growing too quickly for the treatment they were

giving him, and the only thing they could do was send him to a hospice

and put him on a morphine drip. He went quickly and peacefully. I was

lucky to be able to fly out and see him, and I felt that " closure " we

all talk about. I went back for his memorial, and there were 500

people there. Including a lot of friends I hadn't seen in almost 15

years. My mother, brother, SIL, and niece spent the week together,

catching up with each other and our friends. It was a good week, happy

and sad, and we all felt my dad's presence. (Especially my niece, who

got up to use the bathroom 5 times in one night, lol!)

Since coming home, I've been thinking a lot about life (naturally), my

weight, and food. I'm still in the process of IE, of course, but I

realize I want to take care of my health, and that of my family. I

want to eat GOOD food, 'cause life is too short to eat crappy (read:

" diet " ) food. I'm realizing that good, old-fashioned whole food, the

kind our grandparents ate, is TASTY!!!! And it keeps me going, unlike

the diety stuff I ate for so long (then wondered why I was so tired

all the time).

I've tried so many different ways of eating in my adult life.

Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and on and on. And I'm finding that,

for me, getting back to the basics is what works best. Eating what I

enjoy. Not eating past that point of enjoyment. And not letting

anyone else tell me what I " should " do, 'cause life is too short for

that, too.

And the funny thing? All of this was reinforced last weekend, when I

watched " Ratatouille " again with my kids.

The things you can learn from a rat, lol!

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