Reminders

I talked on the phone with my mom last night. She said she had a story to tell me, and proceeded to explain that she still has my dad's cell phone. She disconnected it from their cellular plan sometime after he passed away the beginning of 2012, but she keeps it plugged in and charged, because it would still work for calling 911. So, she keeps it as an emergency backup, since she lives alone in a rural area. (Riveting, I thought. Go on.)

This past week, she was at home going about her day when she heard a weird sound she didn't recognize. She was puzzled, and followed the noise until tracking it down at its source, my dad's phone. It was a reminder he had set to go off every year, prompting him to call me for my birthday on Nov. 18. Mom said she didn't hear it last year, so she must not have been home when it went off. This year she heard it. And wanted me to know.

Even though time heals the heart, loss still has its sharp reminders.

Make it count.

As I get older, long-term health is on my mind, and I try to make the right choices to get a best-odds chance of living well for decades to come. I've been a vegetarian for almost six years, and I do love fruits and vegetables. You'd think being a vegetarian would translate to being pretty healthy, but I also happen to love sweets. and soft, white bread. and craft beer. which is hardly ever "light."

So, inevitably, my clothes get tighter until I reach the point of saying "enough." I reached one such point recently, and decided to renew some clean, healthy eating with a juice fast. I've done a juice fast before, and felt really terrific during and after, so it was an easy decision to go this route again. The plan: to drink only fruit & vegetable juices for two weeks -- renew, reboot, detox, cleanse, call it what you want -- and then get back to a healthier diet without all the processed junk. 

A week ago, I loaded up my Trader Joe's cart with fresh, organic produce, got my juicer out of the basement, and started drinking my meals. (Word to the wise: the green juices are easier to drink out of plastic cups rather than glasses, so you don't notice the color as much.) 

The last time I did a juice fast, the first couple days were the hardest. This time it really wasn't all that difficult until day 5, when hunger and grumpiness started getting the best of me. I went to bed early, simply to get the day over with. Day 6, yesterday, wasn't much better. I made dinner for the family, including tater tots. There were tots left over, and I so badly wanted to pop one in my mouth. I stood and looked at them. Smelled them. And then, in a moment of steely resolve, grabbed the cooled tots and threw them in the sink, where I doused them with water. Am I so disciplined, or what??

This morning, Day 7, I got up, had my morning grapefruit-kale-plum-carrot juice, chased unapologetically by a Reese's peanut butter cup left over from Halloween. I've spent the rest of the day back on track, in a surprisingly good mood, with my cheating heart appeased. 

Super glad I cheated with a Reese's instead of a tater tot.