One of my goals for 2010 was to organize a family reunion. As I posted the other day, we had it on May 29th and I had so much fun. Yeah, it was a little overwhelming to plan and I stressed myself out over way more than I needed to, but it went really well and everyone had a great time. I hope you don’t mind me sharing the details and pictures with you all.

For starters, the decorations. I know I made things more difficult for myself by choosing to make the decorations instead of just buying them, but that’s me. I don’t know if I ever shared this, but I am a scrapbooker, so I had a lot of the supplies already on hand. Here is the banner I made using scrapbooking paper and my Silhouette machine:

Each letter was about 10″ tall – there were two strands that read “Wilkins Family”. The colors of the reunion were purple and white because my grandmother’s birthstone was pearl and my grandfather’s birthstone was amethyst. Yes, I love symbolism.

Closeup of the banner:

I had a table set up with pictures of my grandparents, their marriage certificate and pictures of their four children as well:

I also made labels for the water bottles. (See what I mean when I said I made things harder for myself???) You have to admit they were cute though

And of course, I made a cake By the time this picture was taken, it had already gotten smashed into the box and messed up, but you get the idea. The letters look blue in the photo, but they were purple to match the border.

The names on the leaves represent my grandparents (Edith and Alex) and their four children: Wendy, Kathy, Gordy, and Marty. Here are the four siblings reunited at the reunion for the first time in 21 years!

And here is a group shot of everyone that was at the reunion:

We had lots of fun….everything from volleyball:

to shooting water guns at each other:

There were photo albums filled with old (and recent) photos for everyone to look at and pass around:

There was even Tic Tac Toe! (I think mom won every time?!)

We had burgers, hot dogs, and chicken cooking on 3 different grills:

The park had these super cool bikes for the kids:

Babies got worn out:

Adults got worn out:

Most of the family stayed in town all weekend, so the activities didn’t end just because the actual reunion did. The next day we went to ride the bumper boats at the Shell Factory:

Everyone on the lake that day was from our family…it was an awesomely wet fun time!

Then the next day we went to the beach on Sanibel Island and had yet another fun, wet day!

and one more just because I think this is the cutest thing ever!!! This is my cousin Dustin and his baby, Landon.

So sorry for bombarding you with pictures. Between me and my cousins there were SO many pictures taken! You can see more on my facebook if this wasn’t enough

It was SUCH a fun weekend. I had never met Dustin or his wife and child…it was so awesome getting to know them. They are now wanting to move down here and I hope that they do! I had two other cousins from Texas come…I think I may have met them when I was a child, but I of course don’t remember so it was like meeting them for the first time. It was nice to also meet their families. I am glad that we had this…I think my grandparents would have been so happy to have seen (almost) everyone together again. At least, I’d like to think they were. Now onto some racing news!

My next race is going to be the Ft. Myers Track Club Membership Run 5K in 2 days:

The cool thing about this race is that just by participating, I will automatically become a member of the Ft. Myers Track Club.

Wait.

Did you just read what I wrote?

*I* am going to be a Track Club member. ME. The girl who couldn’t even walk one set of stairs without getting out of breath a year ago is now going to be an official member of a running club.

Pretty damn awesome, huh?

I’m still very cautious though. This will be my first 5K since I hurt my leg and hit all sorts of obstacles. I have only just now began to get back into it after having 3+ weeks of struggling, poor eating, and no running. So, I might walk a portion of the race (or the entire thing). I’m going to play it by ear and really ‘listen’ to my leg. My desire to stay injury free is faaaar greater than my desire to finish the race.

165.7 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
49.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(5) 5Ks finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet this week. It’s been a crazy, hectic week for sure. I’ll start with today’s weigh-in:

I weighed in this morning at 199.1 lbs which is a .3 lb loss for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 56.9 pounds.

After the week I had, I’ll take it. I came off such a high last Saturday when I hit Onederland that I did what I always tend to do when I hit a milestone like that…I sabotaged myself. Yeah, I ate like crazy this week, I guess because I felt like I ‘earned’ it…how silly is that?! Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose?! I MUST learn to celebrate my achievements without food. MUST.

I mentioned before that I hurt my leg during one of my runs a few weeks ago. Like a dummy, I didn’t give it the proper time to heal. I was so excited to start training with Caleb’s Crusade (for the half marathon) that I have just been “pushing through the pain” instead letting it rest and heal. Big mistake and one I won’t make again. My leg really flared up after my Saturday run this week. I think I actually pulled my hamstring because it’s a pain from my hamstring down to the back of knee area. I don’t know for sure and I can’t go to the doctor to find out, so I’m doing the RICE method and have vowed to myself not to run again until the pain has been gone for 2 weeks. I’m scared that I will gain all sorts of weight back during this time, but I can’t let that stop me from doing what I know is best for my body. I have to take care of my leg if I want to become the awesome runner that I know I can be.

I’m sorry this post has all sorts of negative vibes going on…life isn’t always puppies and rainbows, ya know? I’ll be out of my funk soon enough. Our family reunion is in 2 weeks so I’m in full blown planning mode right now. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see everyone, but there’s still A LOT to be done to get ready for it. In the meantime, I hope you guys are doing well in your quest to be healthy and fit. I really miss reading all your blogs…look forward to having more time so that I can do just that.

164.7 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
49.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(5) 5Ks finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I’ve been meaning to tell this story now for a few days, but have been otherwise preoccupied, so here goes.

Thursday night we went to the fair. Now, I have to tell you I was SO looking forward to going to the fair this year being 43 lbs lighter. In years past, there were a lot of rides that I just wouldn’t fit on, namely any ride that locks you in over your head/chest. So in past years I’d just settle for rides that didn’t have the over-the-head locking mechanism. It was just always kinda sad for me because I love roller coasters and scary thriller rides. So, needless to say, I was super excited to go this year 43 lbs lighter in anticipation of riding some of those rides, and one in particular: The “Speed” ride.

I’ve seen this ride in action before and it looked spectacularly scary. My kind of ride! It takes its passengers about 121 feet in the air while spinning them around and the entire arm also spins an entire 360 degrees.

It’s considered a ’specialty’ ride at our fair, which meant that you couldn’t use your armband to ride it. (We purchased armbands for unlimited rides). This ride only took tickets…ten of them for $11. I paid my $11 and waited patiently in line until the attendant told me ‘hop on up’. So I did. Here he is ‘locking me in’ my seat:

I fit! I really fit! So, I asked him to be sure, “I’m locked in, right?” and he said “yes” and came over and gave it another push to be sure.

Whew.

Ok, here we go.

The ride starts and awaaaaay we go! It was AWESOME. When we got all the way to the top, I was literally hanging there, looking down at my husband and kids and just thinking about how incredibly awesome that moment was. Here’s a picture my hubby snapped of me in that moment:

It didn’t last long.

We did two whole spins and then felt the ride slow down. The girl behind me said she didn’t know why we were slowing down, the ride was much longer than that. When we came to stop, the attendant came right up to me, pointed, and said “you gotta come off, you’re not locked in all the way”.

WHAT?!?!

He said, “yea, and I don’t want to get sued.”

I said “Well, I don’t want to DIE!”

So, that was it for my “Speed” ride experience. I mean, I heard it click in, but I guess it wasn’t ” locked”? I think I’m lucky it didn’t come undone while I was 121 ft in the air?!

After I got off the ride I quickly walked to my family and went on to finish our fair experience. I was trying not to be upset or embarrassed, but truthfully I was both. How could I not have been? I didn’t even think to ask for a refund or anything either, I was in such a hurry to move along, ya know?

Well, I can tell you one thing. I WILL lose the rest of this weight so that I never have this problem again…and you can take that to the bank!

Here’s the video of me going around in it and quickly coming to stop. You can even hear my husband say “that’s it?” He didn’t know why it was stopping so soon either.

80.6 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I’ve decided to join the Weekend Warriors Challenge being offered by Brandon.

Weekends are my weakness when it comes to exercise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m active and I get out and do stuff, but I rarely go to the gym on the weekends or purposefully exercise -that’s always been reserved for the workweek. So this challenge will be good for me and might also prove to be beneficial to my weigh-ins, which are always on Mondays, right at the close of the weekend.

The rules are simple; Set 2-3 health/fitness related goals each weekend and report our progress on Monday. Here are the three things I want to accomplish this weekend so I can be a warrior!

1. Work out Friday night (something I never do) for at least 30 minutes.
2. Map out and walk/run 3 miles on Sunday. If any of my local friends read this and want to do this together, let me know!
3. Limit myself to 1 glass of tea each day. (I’ve noticed that I’ve been drinking way too much tea on the weekends and not enough water.)

So those are my goals. I should also point out that I should be getting a fair amount of exercise in on Saturday as well. I’ll be doing the Hope, Love, & Faith MS 5K Run/Walk first thing Saturday morning. By the way, my goal for this one is to complete it in less than 50 minutes. I think/hope this is reachable since I’ve been increasing my pace lately. Then, Saturday night, we’ll be in yet another parade:

This will be the Celebrate Cape Coral parade, and I’ll again be walking (as a snowflake) along with my daughter’s float. The route is about 2 miles long, I think, so that’ll be a total of about 5 miles for Saturday alone.

Now for an update on my mom; thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and prayers you sent our way. The surgery went well and she’s recovering. There were some issues yesterday with her blood pressure. It was at 72/38 when she came out of surgery and they couldn’t get it to go up until around 6:30 last night, but at least it did finally go up. When I called her this morning, she informed me that she had ran a fever all night, so hopefully they’re able to stop the fever and she doesn’t run into any more issues. There was a rather emotional moment yesterday. After surgery, the three of us were just sitting in her room and she was talking her weight and she said she was so proud of me and my sister for losing the weight we have to be healthy so that we won’t end up with a lot of the health issues she has. She said she only wished someone would have told her years ago how it would have affected her life because she would have made changes a long time ago, not only for herself, but she also said she would have fed us differently as children. I don’t blame my mother in the least and I told her she had nothing to apologize for. It was just the kind of moment that sticks with you though and makes me even more committed to this new lifestyle of mine, not just for me, but for MY children. Ya know?

72.5 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I got this idea from the lovely Mary over at A Merry Life and thought I would join in on the food love/hate fest.

FIVE FOODS I USED TO LOVE:

Burger King Whoppers I had these nearly everyday for lunch during the work week. MmmmMMm. I’d scarf two down, along with fries and/or onion rings literally almost every day. I am happy to say I haven’t had a BK burger since September.

Ice Cream I’ve been known to eat a whole quart of cookies ‘n cream ice cream before. This is something else I haven’t indulged in since I started this back in September.

Pasta made from white flour Pasta is a huge weakness of mine, I just love the stuff. Now when I have it I eat whole wheat pasta which is so much better than the white stuff. I don’t ever want to eat the white flour stuff again.

Cheese I was always a HUGE cheese lover and would eat cheese on lots of stuff. The more the better. I still like cheese, but since September, I’ve been real careful about having less. Like when we have chicken tacos, I eat mine without cheese now and honestly, I DON’T MISS IT AT ALL.

Pepsi Drinks count, right? Hi, my name is Josie and I’m a recovering soda addict. I had a long sordid affair with the stuff and am SO glad it’s finally over. Yes, I still crave it from time to time, but with each passing day it gets better.

FIVE FOODS I LOVE:

Fruit Parfait This has become my new favorite treat. I’ll take some plain greek yogurt (something I never had prior to September!) and add some fruit, either fresh or frozen. MMMmmmm. I love this stuff and it’s so good for you.

Whole Grain Pasta See above list. I just love this stuff and wish I had tried it a lot sooner in life. I don’t eat near the amount of pasta I used to, but when I do, at least I know I have a healthier option.

BLT I love BLT sandwiches and take one for lunch a lot of days now.

Strawberries My favorite fruit! I eat strawberries as a side dish with dinner a lot of nights…so yummy! I also love foods made with strawberries like strawberry pie (Perkins is the BEST), strawberry muffins, etc.

Mashed Potatoes Oh, how I love thee! I haven’t had any since I started in September. None, at all. Not even for Thanksgiving and Christmas…but I still want them SO bad. Potatoes are truly a weakness of mine. I was telling Lynne the other day that it was nothing for us to get up on a Saturday morning and fry up a whole 10 lb bag of taters. Talk about portion control!

FIVE FOODS I HATE:

Mayo I’m lucky in this regard because I see a lot of dieters struggle with trying to eat less/no mayo. I have always hated the stuff!

Greens Turnip greens, collard greens, etc…YUCK. I may be a southern girl, but not when it comes to greens! blech!

Sour Cream Ew. Just Ew.

Rye Bread Just something about the aftertaste it leaves, I can’t stand it.

Oats I really wished I liked these because I could always use more fiber in my diet and some of the dishes I see made with oats ‘look’ so good. But, something about the texture I just can’t stomach them.

Feel free to join in on the food love/hate fest! It was neat to sorta jog my brain and ponder how my eating habits have changed over the last five months!

I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before, but my mom had the Lap Band surgery a couple years ago. Well, she’s had a lot of complications since then and now her gall bladder has stopped working altogether. So, tomorrow morning she’s having surgery to have her gall bladder removed. Hopefully all goes well. In the past I would have just gone up to the hospital after work, but in light of all the loss this past month (my uncle, Steve’s dad, beej’s uncle, and Karyn’s dad) I don’t want to take any chances, so I’ve taken the day off tomorrow to be with her. If you feel led to pray or send good thoughts, I’d sure appreciate it on her behalf.

In other news, if all goes well with her tomorrow, I will be doing something very exciting with my family tomorrow evening. Stay tuned for more details!

71.5 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I was scanning some old photos tonight and came across a couple gems I wanted to share, I hope you don’t mind.

As you can see, my love of pasta began at a very early age!

Of course there was also this picture:

Yes, that’s me sitting on my dad’s weight bench (those are my sisters standing on either side of me). Seeing this picture tonight sparked something in me. I’d really like to start doing some strength training soon. Maybe the next picture you see of me on a weight bench, I will actually be using the weights.

I just wanted to share those pictures because I think each one depicts something relevant to my weight loss…one is a reflection of my past habits and the other a reflection of my future habits (hopefully).

Today was awesome. I met up with Lynne and we both got a great workout on the treadmill. Having her there really motivated me and made me push myself harder than I ever have before. I reached two milestones today…I ran a whole half mile before having to stop to walk AND I completed a mile in under 14 minutes. (13:39 to be exact) Thank you SO much Lynne for being such a source of inspiration!

While in the car, Lynne and I were talking about our journeys and how we’re trying to inspire our children to live healthier. She brought up this article about a guy who’s doing the same, by allowing his son to run with him, he’s teaching his son that running is ‘normal’. I LOVE that concept and that’s a lot of what I’m trying to accomplish here too. I grew up on good ole’ southern fried food and surrounded by overweight family members. Seriously, just about everyone in my family has weight issues. THAT was my normal. So, here I am now trying to break that cycle of obesity that has plagued my family, if not for me, then for my children. Introducing them to new healthy foods and trying to encourage them to be more active. Madelyn really enjoyed doing the 5k with me. Marisa is in P.E. in school and is really liking it. This is what I’m trying to foster in them…to teach them that being active is normal. Eating healthy is normal. Being fit is normal.

69.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Image by Pippa!

Time again for another Perfect 10 Update. I can’t believe there are only two weeks left to this challenge! Wow, time sure does fly. Here were my Perfect 10 Goals and how I faired on each of them this week:

• Walk 100 miles over the course of the 10 weeks. This will help keep me on track to reach 500 for the year.

I walked and/or jogged 6.5 miles this week bringing my total for the year to 66.85 miles.

This means I need to walk another 33 miles over the next two weeks since I let myself get a little behind. I can do this.

• Continue the C25K program, doing it at least 3 days per week until completed.

I am happy to report that I am now working on
Week 3, day 1.

I’m very thrilled with the progress I’ve made in this. Getting below a 16 minute mile, and then 15 was a major accomplishment for me and now it’s become a real game for me to do a quicker mile each time I try. The night before last I completed a mile in just over 14 minutes. I’m amazed at how quickly my endurance has improved in such a short time since I’ve started jogging.

• Start riding my bike. No time or distance restraints for this. This one is purely just to get over my fear and DO it…at least once and I’ll be happy

Success! See this post.

• Not drink ANY soda. This is also a goal for the year.

So far so good! It’s been 151 days since I’ve had ANY soda.

• Participate in (3) 5k races. This will help keep me on track to do 12 for the year.

I did the Calusa Bug Chase 5K and the Walk for Wishes already.

I need to do one more. I was planning on doing the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, but can’t because my daughter will be in another parade that day. (I’m sad I have to wait another year to participate, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles ) So, I signed up for the Hope, Love, and Faith 5K for MS, which will take place on March 6. Technically, that’s one day after the Perfect 10 challenge ends, but close enough for me!

• Start a garden.

I still haven’t started yet, but I do have a plan!
I really, really need to get this started…SOON.

• Go to bed by 11:00 on work nights, but preferably 10:00.

3 out of 5 nights.

• Sign up for Karate (or another martial art if Karate isn’t available)

I had to put this on hold for a little while due to finances and time restraints.

• Go to the gym at least 3 times per week.

I only went once this week, not for lack of motivation, but just had an incredibly busy week with lots of stuff scheduled.

• Stay within my budget every month (using YNAB) This is a yearly goal as well.

I am doing very well here.

• Read the Bible each day using this plan. Another yearly goal.

I’m still am behind, but slowly catching up.

The other part of this challenge is to post something that others may not have known about me. I was once on the Sally Jesse Raphael show. Crazy, huh? It was for family drama I’d rather not go into. I was 18 at the time and it was my first and only time ever to New York. We were so rushed though that we didn’t get to sightsee at all, so going back to NYC and experiencing all it has to offer has always been a dream of mine (and of course, without the family drama )

Those of you on my facebook may have seen this last night, but I was/am super stoked, so it bears repeating here. Lookie what I can do now!

66.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Let me warn you right now – this is going to be a very long post. I am still computer-less at home for the moment. We are having a local PC shop build us a new one, which is new experience for us, I am excited about getting our new system just the way we want it at a lower price than the box stores could’ve given us. Hopefully it’ll be ready to pick up tomorrow or Thursday, so until then I’m stuck blogging from my phone or from my work computer as I’m doing now…don’t worry, though, I’m on my lunch hour

First things first, yesterday’s weigh-in results:

I weighed in yesterday at 215.4 lbs which is a 2.6 lb loss for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 40.6 pounds!

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stoked about this. I’m SO close to being out of the 200s now, I can hardly believe it. By the way, I’ve decided how I’m going to reward myself once I do hit the elusive “Onederland”…DAVE MATTHEWS BAND tickets! They’ve been my favorite band for 18 years, yet somehow I’ve managed to go all this time without ever once seeing them live. (oh the shame of it all!) Every summer my sister goes and every summer it’s another excuse as to why I can’t, but not this year. I’ve got the money put aside so the day I step on the scale and the number staring back at me begins with a 1 instead of a 2, I’m ordering tickets. OH YEAH! If that isn’t motivation enough to stay on track, then I don’t know what is.

Now onto some fun stuff. You may recall this post back in November when we first started working on the float for my daughter’s clogging team. Here’s what it looked like back then, before we started:

and here’s what it looked like the day of the Edison Junior Parade on Valentines Day:

Pretty awesome, huh? Our theme was “Winter Wonderland” and we have been working on it almost every weekend for the past few months along with several other clogger parents. Here is a picture of it all lit up during the Edison Grand Parade this past Saturday night (see all the cloggers in there dancing?):

And a few more pictures to share…we had SO much fun.

Here I am with Madelyn, my little clogger, right before the Junior parade on Valentines Day. Please note, I live in Florida where heavy coats are not usually required, I’m wearing it to coordinate with our winter theme. (I walked alongside the float, so I had to be in theme). I bought the coat and scarf specifically for the parade…Note: The coat is an XL and was way too small for me…I couldn’t close it any more than what you see in the picture, but I bought it that way on purpose…maybe by next winter it will be too large!

Here’s a closeup of the ‘igloo’ portion of the float:

Can you believe there’s a truck in there?

And here is our title “Clogging on thin ice for Mr. Edison”:

For those unfamiliar, the Edison Festival of Lights is a 3 week celebration of Thomas Edison who resided in Ft. Myers during the winter months. The festival is our way of honoring his innovative legacy and includes many events including the junior parade, the Grand parade, a Day of Discovery, and a 5K run.

For the Grand Parade, a couple of the moms made these really cute lighted snowflakes for the walkers to wear…here I am sporting mine:

And now a video, that is so incredibly embarrassing, but we had a lot of fun. You’ll get a kick out of it, I’m sure! (I’m the one in the white/black coat with hot pink scarf).

Laughing yet? See, I told you you’d get a kick out of it! I’m pretty good at the air guitar, aren’t I?

The parades were a blast! It was a totally new experience for us because it was my daughter’s first year on the team. Being in the parades also helped me realize just how far I’d come in the last five months. Five months ago, there was no way I could have walked in those parades. NO WAY. Especially the grand parade which was rather long and we were moving FAST…jogging speed. The route itself was about 3 miles long, but you have to remember I was jumping all around, dancing, and working the crowd along the streets. It wasn’t just a casual walk. We got home that night and my feet had blisters because of the shoes I had on, but I was so thankful for the positive changes I’ve made in my life over the past 5 months, because had it not been for that, I wouldn’t have been able to have enjoyed that experience with my daughter. How’s that for a non-scale victory? We’ll be in yet another parade in 2 weeks!

Gosh, I told ya this was gonna be a long post…and truth be known, there’s so much more I want to write…it’s been really hectic around here the past few weeks. Please forgive me for not coming by your blogs, but without a home PC and as busy as we’ve been, it’s really difficult to do. Just a couple more days and things should be back to normal around here.

Edited to add: I can’t believe I forgot to post this part, but we won “Most Outstanding” float in both parades!

64.35 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

My home computer crashed last week so between that and the death of my uncle and just the overall busy-ness of life, I haven’t been able to blog as usual this week. I did, however, weigh myself on Monday though, so here’s that result. As of Monday morning I weighed 218.0 lbs which is a loss of 1.8 lbs from the Monday before. This brings my total loss so far to 38 pounds.

I’ll take it. Some of you might remember that I’m in a fitness challenge that ends on April 1st. Several weeks ago I set a goal for myself to be under 200 lbs by the end of that challenge. It’s starting to look like I won’t make that goal and I’m OK with that, however I don’t think I’ll ever set a weight goal like that for myself ever again. It causes way too much frustration when the weight doesn’t come off fast enough. And the scale can be so wonky at times, like showing a zero loss during a week where I’ve really, really pushed myself and then showing a huge loss when I’ve veered off track some. I can’t predict what the scale’s going to do, so yeah, no more timed weight goals for me! I’m just gonna keep on doing what I know works and concentrate on the big picture…the end goal…I’m not in a race and it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t win the fitness challenge.

One quick milestone that I’d like to share is that I completed a mile last night in under 15 minutes. 14:44 to be exact.

Thank you all for your well wishes and condolences for my family. I sincerely appreciate you all! ♥ And if any of my local friends are reading this, we will be celebrating my uncle’s life at LJ’s (his home away from home) this Saturday at noon if you’d like to come.

59.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

My Uncle Larry was a good man.
He loved his Cathy. He loved cars. He loved junkyards. He loved airboats. He loved to party. He loved LJ’s. He loved his family.
14 years ago, I was pregnant with Marisa and I found myself stranded. One phone call to my Uncle Larry and before I knew it he was right there to pick me up and take me home. When I had a flat tire a few years ago on SR 31, I walked up to LJ’s hoping to see his truck there. It was; and he gladly helped change my tire and get me riding again. He’s helped me a lot through the years and that’s something I’ll never forget. He was always just a phone call away.
I went to visit him in the hospital last year and it was rather late; around 11:00 PM. He was asleep, so I just put my arm on his and said “Uncle Larry, it’s Josie“. His eyes opened briefly and he said “how you doin, baby girl?” He quickly went back to sleep. I wondered after that if he’d remember that I had been there or not. Months later, my dad told me that I was the only person my uncle had remembered coming to visit him. That warmed my heart.
I have a lot of regrets. Mostly that I didn’t reach out more to him through the years and especially that I didn’t go see him yesterday while he was still alive. I hope he knew that I loved him. At least today he’s no longer bedridden and suffering.

Larry Dwight Stidham
July 24, 1954 – February 14, 2010

Alcohol destroyed my uncle’s liver and he was taken from us much too soon as a result. He was only 55 years old. I’ll be making a donation to the Liver Foundation in his honor today. If you’d like to help this cause as well, you can either donate or sign up to walk in a Liver Life Walk in your town.

I had a much different post in mind for today sharing pictures from my daughter’s parade and so much more that happened over the weekend. That’ll have to wait till tomorrow.

57.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)