Of Salad & More

I have a couple of things I'd like to blog about; I could post individual entries, but they should be smaller topics, dealt with in relatively short order.

I. We do not seek stress.
One of the things that I enjoy the most about dating Brian is the way we get along. Neither one of us appears to enjoy stress, nor are we into denial. What happens is, that 9 times out of 10, we agree with each other, probably were headed there individually in the first place, or accepted the other's suggestion. If we don't agree on something, we talk about it, and then usually come to an agreement. Logic plays a big role, and since we hold many of the same values, we typically attack the problem from the same or similar angles. In the r a r e instance that we don't find a solution, we weigh how important the issue is to the other, and then one of us concedes. It's so functional, it's almost frightening. But it makes for a great relationship. We don't tend to add stress to our situations by blowing things out of proportion or hanging on to anything, and both seek to solve the problem as quickly and effectively as possible, so the machinery (so to speak) works well.

II. We are seeking health, together.
Brian has had a lot of hospital food in the last couple of months, so he really wanted to do a salad week to cleanse his system. Both of us have clean health records - blood pressure, cholesterol, and so forth are all in order - but our weight alone is a health risk, for the future if nothing else. Plus, both my mother and a sister were widowed at a young age. I know first hand what it is to lose someone in the family, to see the impact that death has, especially unexpected death. I'd honestly rather never go through that again, 'cause I think I've gotten my quota for this lifetime on that issue. With the grace of God, I won't.

So when Brian suggested his cleansing week, I signed right up. Focusing on health not weight loss, we started the day with yoghurt or granola (I usually buy organic, plain and organic, vanilla and add stuff). Our main intake has been salads, so our lunch and dinner started with a big salad and then was supplemented with fruit or something like that. No, our salads did not have three buckets of croutons and gallons of salad dressing - we were careful to prepare good, solid salads to make sure we didn't go hungry but also didn't defeat our purpose by adding too much gunk. We also got to eat soup; essentially, we cut sweets, and did a basic low carb/low fat combo.

The details of this endeavor are less interesting to me than the fact that we're both supporting each other so much. We emailed throughout the day (quick one liners such as "AAAGH! Brownies on Monday and donuts today! I don't think I can do it!!!" with responses such as "Yes, you can, babe. I know what you're saying 'cause so-and-so has candy on her desk, and it's hard, but you can do it!"). BTW, have you ever noticed the caloric black hole that the workplace represents? Geez. It's like a conspiracy to get each other fat. To celebrate something last week, I set out a bowl of cherries instead of some sweet, and guess what? They got eaten, right along with the brownies they were sitting next to. We're like kids - if you put healthy stuff out, it'll get eaten.

ANYway, today's the last day, and we did a pretty good job of it. Brian actually did a better job than I did; I had a meeting on Friday and for some reason, people decided the table I was sitting at and even the end of the table I was sitting at was the place to put all the snacks. There was just no way. Although I had some, I didn't haul out on the chips, dip, and cookies (I focused on the popcorn and twizzlers, figuring they were the least of those evils). So all in all, it was a success. The point of this blog entry is that I'm loving how Brian and I really helped each other out. We're already planning an exercise week.

III. Public interest in our blog.
As you can see if you're reading this, there's a map showing the places where people click on our blog. Some of those are bound to be random clickers, but some of the dots continue to grow. I was the one that suggested a website for our relationship, and Brian set up this blog. I don't know the technical details, but this was easier. I honestly thought we'd be putting this stuff up and would maybe get a charity click from our friends every once in a while. But it seems there is some interest from others out there. We get a kick out of seeing where people are - we've got Casablanca and Yemen, for cryin' out loud. It changes things a little, though, 'cause instead of it being just him and me, with an occasional friend or sister reading, it appears to be a few more than that. It's not a bad change, just different. I'm more surprised that anybody would feel our lives are interesting enough to follow, I guess. :-)

In any case, I love the blogging because we'd never remember some of these details and our friends get to see what's going on our lives. We can blog from any computer, and put little tidbits up to treat each other. Plus, there's the value in journaling, in getting one's thoughts down in a more or less coherent fashion. I do re-read the blogs later, though, and can't help editing sometimes. I don't change content but punctuation or change some words to make something clearer.

So read on, whomsoever may please! Self-screen. No liability incurred. ;-)