WELCOME HOME!

So I've just come home from a two week sabbatical to my hometown, Memphis, TN. One of my best friends got married on the 24th and then my little sister and her man tied the knot this past Saturday and finally my family got together to remember my recently passed grandmother. LOTS of family time and LOTS of love going around. It was a whirlwind of emotion, food, friends, and too little sleep. (I'll get summary photos up soon.)

I had some time to think on our 12 hour drive home yesterday about what explanations I'd give you all about the porker I became over the past two weeks and about if I should shave my head and cut off some toes before my weigh in- I decided against that btw- but I also realized that I don't think I've shared much about why I started my blog.

In the midst of friends and family who I haven't seen anywhere from several months to many years, my weight loss and blog came up. It's different to have people know what's going on in your life when you haven't talked to them in a good long while. When I started this blog, I considered being super secretive about it- only telling 2-3 people to keep me accountable and no one else. Why? Well, because I was a fat little cookie monster and didn't want to advertise that amazing fact...

Then, I thought about it. I want to live my life in a transparent way. The best compliment I have ever been paid- or at least one of the ones that's way up there- was from my high-school youth pastor, Lance. He told me that I was the most transparent person he'd ever met. I won't say I'm always like that- but I do try to live up to that praise. I think there's so much beauty in living a simple life and not hiding or manipulating anything. Maybe I'm doing something right- I shouldn't gloat as much as live it before others. Maybe I'm doing something wrong- I shouldn't hide it, but live it and invite feedback from friends and family. It's the way I know best to grow. When I realized there was something I wanted to change about myself, I wanted to be upfront with those who care about me. Then thinking about it more- I wanted to get rid of the stigma associated with being a chunky monkey. :)

There are a precious few people I know who don't have weight troubles- but everyone who does, doesn't want it to be a topic of dinner table conversation...especially us ladies. So anyway, I put all this out there- post it on facebook, twitter, and everywhere else with my weight, height, food, beer, thoughts, ect. for everyone to stare at and think I'm a crazy person- not really although that's an unfortunate side effect sometimes- I put it there to at least demonstrate this is a good thing and everyone should be excited about being healthy and that its attainable and not something to be ashamed of.

Anyway those are my thoughts for now- I'll get down to writing how the trip went and weighing in tonight or tomorrow through weight watchers and sharing the damage.