Day 69: Memories Are Sweet

“Life is short, live it. Love is rare, grab it. Anger is bad, let go of it. Fear is a mind-killer, face it. Memories are sweet, cherish them.”

I don’t know who wrote this quote but there is nothing but truth in it. When you’re young you don’t think about the fact that your time here is limited and we waste a lot of it. My life could have ended when I was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009 but I was fortunate enough to be cured. I don’t know that I got the message as I feel like I wasted a lot of time over the past 10 years. I’m finally living my life and trying not to let regret get in the way. Over the years I built up a lot of anger and it just gnawed away at me. Letting all of that go gave me a sense of peace I don’t think I had ever felt. I also let fear control my life for a long time and although I can’t say I am fearless I feel like I’m better equipped to face my fears head on instead of hiding from them. Love, well I would agree it is rare because I haven’t really experienced that in my life. I know my family loves me but one day I’d like to have someone to share my life with that truly loves me. What inspired today’s theme ? Not regret, not anger, not fear. It was memories. It’s Day 69 and that brought back a funny memory. When I was a young teen my grandparents moved back to our area from Florida and bought a house in my parent’s neighborhood. Once in a while my grandmother would take one of us to bingo with her on Tuesday night at the local fire hall. It was a big deal ! Grandma would put on her wig and hop in the block-long Lincoln Continental and off we’d go. I’d eat french fries and popcorn and feel like a grown up with my bingo marker and chips ! What’s funny about this memory is all the old ladies would whistle and holler “woo hoo” when #69 was called. Grandma passed away in 1980 but I still remember that.

Breakfast today was a 2 ounce 170 calorie double chocolate muffin. These tiny little muffins are delicious and after 20 seconds in the microwave you’d swear you just baked it ! Coffee was Keurig’s “donut shop” blend followed by a cup of triple chocolate. Just so you know, the flavored coffees contain no sugar so they are zero calories. It was a busy morning at work so I never had my morning snack but I was able to squeeze in my breakfast Power Fuel (100 calorie string cheese) shortly before lunch. Lunch was a 4 ounce 220 calorie spinach and cheese pretzel melt. I had a few raw carrots with it. I got the hungries around 3 pm so I had my 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Around 4 pm I got around to my afternoon snack of Laughing Cow cheese (90 calories) and low fat wheat thins (90 calories). Dinner tonight was a 10 ounce 260 calorie chicken enchilada with spanish rice. My evening snack is going to be a 2.1 ounce 140 calorie carrot cake slice. My calories are only at 1192 because of my busy morning.

It was a brisk 19 degrees when I got up this morning ! I had no trouble sleeping last night but it was not easy to crawl out of that nice warm bed ! Temps were in the low 40’s today and are supposed to head into the 50’s Thursday and Friday ! Unfortunately we’ll be back to the 30’s by the weekend. Welcome to upstate New York weather and the forever menopausal Mother Nature ! My morning at work was busy because I was switching over to a new laptop. You know how that goes - you have to play with all the settings and get everything just right ! My evening was relaxing in spite of the FB issues. Cats had dinner, I had dinner, everything is ready for tomorrow’s meals and I got my workout in. Now for some tv time, then a hot shower and bed !