The Median Sib

Tomorrow’s the 25th of September - just three months till Christmas. Let’s see — September has 30 days, October has 31 days and November 30 days…so that makes 91 days till Christmas. If my math is wrong, please don’t tell me. It’s not important.

Larisa and Joey tease me about my fixation on numbers. I’m always telling them things like “Two weeks from today I’ll be in Alaska,” or “Your birthday is only four months from today,” etc. I like to think in terms of how many days, months, or years away certain events are or were. And in thinking of the future, it gives me a goal range. For example, when I noticed tomorrow’s date, I immediately thought of 3 months till Christmas — and then I thought of what goals I’d like to make for those three months. So that’s where my thoughts are now — what do I want to accomplish in the next three months.

First is my residence. I like where I live, but I don’t really love it. I bought a townhouse after my divorce last year. I thought that I didn’t want the bother and expense of maintaining a yard and I didn’t want anything big. I miss having a separate house — and since there are two units in my building, I feel that one side of my house is missing — no windows on the side that’s connected to the other unit. To me, it feels like something is missing. Although I have a screened-in back porch, it faces west, and it isn’t comfortable to sit out there. In the evenings when I’d like to sit outside, the sun is glaring in my eyes and it’s hot. The only view is the backs of other townhouses, and there’s a street that ends right at my porch. The porch is high enough that the fence doesn’t offer any privacy when I’m on the porch. Not very relaxing. So, one of my goals - not for the next 91 days, but for sometime in the next year or two - is to start looking for somewhere else to live. I’m okay where I am, but it’s not home to me. Seeing my cousin Jane’s house today made me realize the kind of place I want to live — something country, a little rustic looking, with lots of room for entertaining, and lots of comfortable outdoor space. So I’m going to start looking and seeing what’s available in my area.

Another goal is to get back involved with my friends. The past couple years have been rather stressful, and I haven’t taken the time and effort to maintain my friendships. So that’s my second goal. I’ll get involved again in group activities and in church activities - not only for my social benefit but my spiritual benefit as well. It’s easy to withdraw and stay inside myself. Getting out and being with other people gives me the opportunity to see beyond my own situation and issues. Another thing Joey and Larisa used to tease me by saying I only went to church for the social aspect of it. There WERE enough social benefits in terms of friendships and activities to make their accusation partly true.

That makes two rather large goals for the next three months - at least goals to get started. Other goals? I don’t know at this point. I’ll be thinking about it, though, and when I decide on them, I’ll post them here.

I’ve been reading lately about different diets. Actually, what I’ve been reading hasn’t been about “diets” but about ways of life related to eating. One book, French Women Don’t Get Fat fascinated me.

My niece, Brannon, who is currently traveling in France says that French women don’t get fat because they all smoke nonstop. The author of the book, though, says that French women don’t get fat because they don’t have all the hang-ups we American women have about food. They eat whatever they want to eat, but they eat in moderation. They don’t feel compelled to eat everything on their plate, and they’d rather throw away food than to eat something beyond what’s needed to take care of their hunger. And essentially, the Weigh Down Workshop is based on the same idea. Food is there for our enjoyment, and even the Bible tells us that there are no foods that are off-limits. We just have to get to know our bodies and not eat until we’re physically hungry — and stop eating when that hunger is satisfied. The author goes on to write about how so much of our hunger is emotional hunger rather than physical hunger, and how we can satisfy that emotional hunger through a relationship with God instead of with Food. Whatever your religious beliefs, it makes sense to work to separate emotional hunger from physical hunger — and only use food to feed the physical hunger.

I’m in Georgia visiting my mother this weekend. This afternoon we attended a party celebrating the wedding of Jared and Lim. Jared is the son of my first cousin, Jane, and her husband, Warren. There was a big crowd, fantastic barbecue and great fellowship. I got to visit briefly with my Aunt Rowena. However, the really impressive thing was their house. I fell in love with their house. Such a gorgeous, open, log home — furnished so beautifully. Maybe some day I’ll build myself one similar to it. One of the things I enjoyed was walking through Jane’s house and seeing photos of people I dearly loved — my Mama Baird and my Uncle Tom and Jane’s older brother, Jack — and pictures of Jane when she was a little girl and we all called her Jane Ann. I loved seeing the photos of Uncle Tom and Aunt Rowena when they were young. It was an enjoyable day of visiting family and celebrating a young marriage.