Day 48: Getting Back on the Wagon and the Horse I Rode In On

Before I start this blog, I'd just like to answer Big Ed who asked: " Do you have any 'I was a good girl stories?'" Of course I do! But they are not nearly as entertaining! I'm a good girl in my day to day life, I just like to break out every once in a while.... And break out is what I did for these last 2 weeks. Oy!

Cruises are over, old friends have gone home. It's time to assess the damage I have wrought by misbehaving so egregiously over the last 2 weeks.

Hours of sleep lost: several
Hours of exercise lost: most of them
Quantity of alcohol consumed: excessive
Brain Cells killed: thousands (hopefully none contained important information)
Weight lost or gained: God only knows, because I'm too much of a coward to get on the scale.

Time spent with boyfriend on the cruise and with best friend having fun: priceless

Can't honestly say I regret anything I did over the last two weeks, although those tequila shots on Monday night might have been a little excessive. I had a lot of fun. I ate too much, but I didn't eat junk. I didn't exercise, but we did a lot of walking (and stumbling and staggering) around. I've already talked about the cruise, so let me 'splain a bit about My Brian, my best friend from college.

I mentioned him before. He's the original source of my thing for pianos and piano players. We met our freshman year of college in a creative writing class and we were virtually inseparable for the next four years. We were Lauraandbrian or Brianandlaura, depending on who was referring to us. He was my rock, my best friend during a time when I wasn't the most stable. If I had a bad day, I could go to him and we would just curl up together and watch reruns of "Hart to Hart" or we would go down to a practice room in his dorm and he would play piano for me, playing my favorite songs or doing silly versions of other songs to make me laugh. We watched each other navigating through the dating scene, knowing we could count of a shoulder to cry on or someone to bitch to when the relationship went south. Brian probably knows more about me than any other person in this world and he still loves me. Everybody needs one of those in their life.

Between having Brian here and talking a lot to a couple of friends having job or love problems, I've been thinking a lot about the people in my life and why they are in my life. In the past I've had some very strong gut reactions to a few people when I first met them. And I always kind of saw it as a sign that these people were supposed to be in my life for whatever reason, they had something to show me. There have been a few people like that, but these are the ones whose purposed was so clear.

I met My Brian when I needed someone to show me unconditional love and comfort and support and stability at a time in my life when I didn't have nor did I think I deserved any of those things.

I met Catherine when I needed a teacher, a guide and a friend to help me make that transition into the adult world.

I met Stephanie and I met a soul sister. Someone on with the same experiences and background and sensibilities and direction to reflect my choices back to me and help me see where I was going.

And I haven't quite figured out his purpose yet, but I had that same gut reaction when I met Ron. But I think it has to do with showing me a different direction in life.

Now, when I met the Bloggers Crew. That was a whole other thing. It had been a really long time since I'd made a new friend. That seems so much harder to do when you get older. And here I met an entire group at once! I have never in my life met a group of people who are so quick to offer love, support and encouragement to people they only know through email and meeting them all just reinforced that. And talk about a gut reaction! I think these folks came into my life to help me on this journey with weight loss and finding a new direction. It certainly wouldn't be possible with out them!

People come and go in your life, but the I think each one has a purpose, something to show you or teach you, if you are open to it.

So now, I'm getting back on the horse and back to the business of trying to lose the weight. Back to the regular blogging. And back to the hiking tomorrow! It should be a cool 94 degrees tomorrow in Jersey!