Be Prepared

Greetings Dearests,

First I would like to say a warm thank you for everyone that reads this blog. Your kind words lift my spirits and encourage me to seek higher levels of self. I really love all of you. William Shakespeare wrote "I am wealthy in my friends." I feel as rich as Bill Gates. (The expression used to be 'as rich as Roosevelt' but seriously I'm not eighty.:)

On to health news. You will be pleased to know that I have lost 32 pounds and my blood sugar hovers around 113 to 116 which is very good for me. It was 156 and then I cut out almost all carbs and that helped alot. I exercise on the treadmill every day except Sunday and I don't hate it as much. I'm up to 30 solid minutes at 3.1 miles per hour. That may not sound great but trust me it's alot for a fattie. I weigh 201 now. I can't wait to get under 200. Sadly I haven't been this size since we went to visit Brad and Rachel in New York just after 9/11. It feels great! When you are overweight for a long time you don't know what a normal size person weighs. The other day at a lunch group I was sitting with a bunch of young married girls @ church and one of them asked me what my goal weight was and I said about 130 lbs. They all said they would also like to weigh 130lbs. I was shocked . I (never the shy one) asked one how much she weighed and she said 165. She had just had a baby 3 weeks earlier but is a long distance runner. She looked great to me so I said "Well, on second thought 165 might just be fine." I remember years ago when we first moved to Memphis I got to 128 and I was always hungry. When I weighed 137 to 139 I felt perfect. I think that is my goal. I just want to feel good and keep my blood sugar stabilized. (Okay, secretly I want to be an old hottie.)

Every night before I go to bed I make sure the phone is in the cradle next to my side of the bed.
I do this because every morning Charlotte calls me @ 6:35 when she gets to school after seminary to let me know she's allright. Tuesday was a crazy busy day and I was exhausted when I went to bed so I forgot the phone. Wednesday morning I hear the phone ring through a haze. I am not a morning person and I can't just jump out of bed. I could hear Charlotte on the answering machine but couldn't hear what she was saying. As I was trying to get out of bed Dave's cell phone rang next to his side of the bed. This isn't unusual as this is the shift change for AAA and sometimes the headquarters in Nashville call Dave because they can't get through to his drivers. I didn't think anything about it until I heard him say "Okay Baby, okay, are you allright? Is anyone hurt? I'll be right there." As you can imagine my heart sank to my stomach.
For two years I've had that stupid phone next to my bed waiting for just that phone call. Everyday I wake up five minutes before she calls because I can't sleep I'm so worried about her. The one day I forget the phone and oversleep is the day my baby needs me the most. She is okay but I'll tell you what, I've never been gladder to have paid $500.00 for a driving class than I was yesterday. Here's what happened. Evidently a delivery truck was lost on the road to school and he hit his brakes hard looking for where to go. There were four kids from seminary
behind him. Kaitlyn Carter(weird huh?) then Charlotte then two more kids behind Charlotte.
Kaitlyn did not hit him. Charlotte did not hit him but did hit her brakes just like Max Maxwell taught her in class. The other two kids were following too close and did hit her and both got a ticket. One totaled her father's car and had only had her liscence two weeks. What a pisser. Dave said their insurance just doubled. Ironically Abby Jones (my dear friend Beth Jones' daughter) had an accident in her car on the way to seminary yesterday. She hit a curb and bent the rim and got on the interstate before she relized how bad it was. So her dad came and drove her to seminary and she was riding with Charlotte when the accident occured. Abby told Beth that Charlotte did everything right. Charlotte is now a superhero in Abby's eye's. Beth told me later that truly someone was watching over Abby yesterday because if she had been in the wreck it could have killed her. Abby's reaction time is not like everyone else's. Since the radiation to her brain she has a deficit. (Abby is our brain cancer survivor for those of you who don't know her.) No one was hurt, a little shook up but the airbags didn't even deploy (which was worrisome to Charlotte "Mom we were going 45 mph!") When all is said and done it could have been way worse. You all could have been getting a very sad phone call yesterday instead of a blog today. I am thankful. I've always said Charlotte is a very sensible girl. I'm so glad I was right. It's funny how you worry about your kids in different ways. Beth said she wasn't ever worried about Zach like she does about Abby. If a boy breaks down somehow he doesn't seem as vulnerable as a girl. She tells me now she understands why I've been such a paranoid freek about Charlotte driving all that way to Arlington in the pre-dawn hours. It's just scary. I just trust that she's where she should be (and pray alot and pay for driving classes :) Well I started this blog at 5:45 am (because I couldn't sleep-wonder why?) so I better get started with the day.

All my love and fondest wishes, Tracey