CUWP Writing Retreat

I have spent the better part of the last 2 days writing and conversing with other writers. The few of us that are here are teachers. Teachers who teach writing, love to write, and are looking for others to engage students in writing.

I started writing a story in 2009. The idea was to show my students to put pencil to paper and write. The story has turned into a love story. When I learned or remembered that I love to write, I never thought I would write a love story. However, that is the way it turned out.

Yesterday I began writing the "bad" part. It took me a long time to have the courage to write it. Life was going well for my love birds. I didn't want anything bad happen to them. So, I avoided writing. I'm having a difficult time writing now, because it is only going to get worse.

I sometimes wonder if Heavenly Father feels the same way. I realize that we can choose our path, and literally speaking two characters in book are at the mercy of the author. Does He cry because He sees the path laid before us, and the path just ahead is riddled with rocks, boulders, and debris that seem insurmountable just like I do for my two characters?

I imagine that my two characters cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel. I, like them, am on a debris strewn path where I am unable to see any light, and feel that the light will never show itself. Unfortunately, much of the debris before me was placed there by me. I would like to think that Heavenly Father sheds tears for me even in my own stupidity.

The Confessions of a Fat Man

I am 48 years old. I have 5 beautiful children, whom I love dearly. More importantly I have a wife whom I love ever so much, and is my best friend. I have not made life easy for her, but she has stuck with me and we have become stronger for it. 

I had been 27 years old for about a month, I had been home for about 2 1/2 months from basic training and petroleum supply school for the Army National Guard, and felling pretty healthy, I found myself in the hospital lying flat on my back. I had just come from the cath lab where my cardiologist had cleared two blockages and placed two stents in the arteries of my heart. That was the beginning.
Within the next 6 months I was in and out of the hospital a few times. To make a really long story a little shorter, two more stents placed in my arteries, I had my first heart attack, quadruple bypass surgery, and two more heart attacks a couple of months later. 

Over the next several years I had more arteries cleaned out and another set of bypasses. For the last several years, I have been keeping the arteries open with medications, though I have been to the hospital for check ups my arteries continue to remain open.

It's obvious from the title that I do not by any means take care of what God has granted me over the years. When it comes to eating healthy my excuse continues to be "It is more stressful to  eat healthy, than to not. For example, the last several years my friends and I will tell that my excuse for drinking Cherry Coke so that I can drink a serving of fruit a day (Yes, I know this is a fallacy). My soda intake seemed to grow exponentially.

I don't exercise. I use all of the excuses, too lazy, not motivated, you can list the rest of the excuses. Mostly, I never set aside the time, because I feel that I don't have the time, and quite honestly sometimes it hurts to do it. But my biggest excuse would start with the statement, "When I get..." or "After I..." or "I'll do it when..."

I have known for years that if you don't do whatever it is you say your going to do before a specific event, you more than likely won't do it after the said event, or worse yet, the event never takes place. For example, "I'll be happy after I get a new car." Then you'll find something else you need to get before you'll be happy.

I finally realized what I was saying. I was saying the same thing about being healthy. So, I've decided the time is now to make a change. I know very well that the changes I make will not be drastic, or come hard and fast. I know myself well enough to know that those kind of changes won't become habit.

Holly and her family moved into our neighborhood about the same time we did. Holly and I attend the same church. She had heard about my medical condition, and one particular Sunday said she had a product she would like me to try. I did try what she offered.  I liked what I read, and what I saw. More importantly I liked how felt afterward.

I am starting an adventure to better health. Like many others who make lifestyle changes I needed help. With the help from Holly and It Works! Global, I will be working to live a healthier lifestyle. If you would like to join me go to www.toourhealth.itworks.com.

Cheese and Grapes

For a snack I really like cheese and grapes. I will eat a couple of grapes and then take a small bite from a cheese stick. It is really good. I personally like purple grapes. I usually don't get surprised by sour grapes with purple grapes.