Wedding Weekend

Thursday I drove down to Philadelphia for my cousin's wedding. As our far flung family gathered at the hotel in Conshohocken throughout the day and night it was a great rolling reunion. My parents thought I looked great, as did my brother...who looks more pregnant than his wife incidentally. I think he is now sporting a beard to draw attention away from his once svelte, and now swollen, mid-section. But he could not hold a candle to me at my worst when I tipped the scales at 302 lbs! He is like me and will just decide to reverse the trend and focus on losing weight again just like my older brother did recently.

You know, I have a photo on my refrigerator of my High School graduation, and looking at myself and my two brothers we were all terrifically fit and slim. Then each one of us maxed out at some point and needed to recapture that once athletic body. (Even my Mom has gotten into the act as she told me tales of her new favorite hobby - Zumba! The hot new exercise dance class craze). I think my maxing-out on weight after a young life of living slim is similar to many American adults -- as the active lifestyle slows down the intake of processed, addictive, horribly unhealthy food and drink increases. Well, guess what, just like my training team in Central Park which focuses on movements and exercises that we grew up with on sports teams or P.E. classes, we are now trying to eat healthfully, not by following some new-fangled fad diet, but, by eating what we grew up with - fruits and vegetables! You see, Mom was right all along! If I had a nickel for every time I heard this in our house growing up, "Mom, I'm hungry." "Have an apple!" Or the ever popular, "Mom, I'm bored." "Go play outside!" If America's current parents replicated this age-old dialogue we would not be besieged by this growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

One thing that was not easily navigable this past weekend was drinking - it was a wedding/family reunion after all! But the good thing is that each morning I had my oatmeal and fruit and plenty of water. I also visited the gym in the Marriott to stay on my exercise schedule. I made the time pure and simple. Often, we don't "have time" for things we should be doing, but in reality, we have plenty of time. When I do nothing, the day zips by. When I do activities there constantly seems like there is more time in the day. It is true that "time waits for no man." It is also true that time actually speeds up when you live a sedentary lifestyle.

The wedding was your typical Italian/German/Irish affair with plenty of food and booze and dancing. The reception was at a beautiful golf course and during the cocktail hour I chose not to really drink or eat - partly because I was so nervous for my speech (the first few sentences were to be spoken in Italian). I heard someone behind me get the vegetarian plate (I should have called ahead, but did not want to be a pest!). The crab on steak dish was very good, but I would rather have had the vegetarian dish.

It was a fantastic time being with family, my cousin looked beautiful, and you really can't ask for anything more - family and fun (and mostly healthy eating).