Eating and Life choices.......

Dinner

Yeah. Dinner.

It's what we need. We all know it.

Choosing dinner is similar to life, isn't it?

Picking dinner can happen many ways:

1. Standing there with the freezer, refridgerator and pantry open, jsut waiting for something to jump out at you. You didn't think ahead or plan. You know you need to eat, you are hungry, but....still, you wait for dinner to miraculously prepare itself and be gourmet at that!

2. Still not planning wisely: you opt for crud. Deep fried, proccessed, full of nitrates whatever is quick and 'easy'. Knowing your body needs much more than that, it is just simpler to pull that out and nuke it.

3. Say forget cooking, I don't 'feel' like it....run to mickey d's, wendy's, burger king, or whatever fast food restaurant of choice. Or better yet, not even leaving your home...oreder in. Then complain that the service is slow, and the food is gross.....nice, huh? Then look in the mirror and wonder why you feel so icky.

4. You can plan ahead. I don't mean to be legalistic about it....give yourself grace for the days that you just don't have enough time, or the unexpected comes along. When you plan ahead you are achknowleding the fact that you know you will need to eat at some point. You also know that your body needs certain things to function properly, so in your planning you take that into account. You actively seek out the things you will need in advance and prepare for the time to come when you are ready to/need to eat. In this active state of thinking, planning and preparing you are working toward the goal of eating.

Now, I do all of the above.

But, 1-3 are rarities.

#4 Should be my norm. It will keep me and my family healthy.

Do you (and when I say YOU I am speaking to myself as well...) view life the same way?

Do you go through life looking at all the things around you hoping that something will just jump out at you and all of a sudden all will be fine?

Do you take the quick and seemingly easy way to do things, all the while having that nagging sense that you KNOW you could have made a better choice?

Do you not even do anything for yourself, but rely on others to make you happy and then complain when they don't?

Or, do you try to make the choices that you know will take more work and planning and doing on your part, but you know in the long run, it is what is best?

I am deciding today, to make #'s 1-3 more rare than they are in my life. I am choosing #4, because in the long run it will be what is best for me and my family.....

To my son on his 15th birthday......

So.

Here we are.

15 yrs.

You have been a part of my life for 15 yrs.

I remember when I first found out about you. I was elated, scared, unsure, thrilled. I was overcome with so many emotions that seemed to contradict each other. But, as time went on, they mainly became awe.

Awe at watching you squirm around in there. Amazed that there was a LIFE in my belly. A LIFE. Wow. I am so blessed that I am not a man. A man will never ever know that feeling of life growing and blooming inside of them. But I got to feel that!!

Everyone told me you were a girl. And at times I thought that is what I wanted. But deep in my heart I knew who you were from the beginning. You were the miracle that God gave me.

I remember the day you were born. (yes...I am going there....I'm your mother, I will revisit that day as often as I choose! LOL)

I was induced with you early on the 7th. Labored all that day with people popping in and out to see if you had made your grand entrance yet. Your Grandmothers were both there. Maw Maw was so proud. Your dad was there cracking his weird jokes. Your Grandma M. was there worrying about it all. LOL Pop was there.

I finally got to where it was time to try to get you out, and we tried and tried for a long time....about 2 and a half hours to be exact....but you weren't budging. Then they came in and said that you weren't doing so hot in there. They needed to get you out now. Within 15 min of them teling me that, they had you out. I was nervous and scared, but when I heard you SCREAM I knew you were ok. It was 12:20 a.m. on the 8th.

The stinky dr. gave me something to make me sleep and I didn't get to hold you until about 8 hrs later. I was MAD. REALLY MAD. They wouldn't bring you to my room unless I had someone there with me....so I called your Maw Maw, woke her up and made her come as fast as she could. I couldn't wait to hold you!

That first time they gave you to me....yep you guessed it....I bawled (and so did your Maw Maw! LOL) You were perfect. So sweet.

We have had some rough times you and I. Between the divorce and me getting remarried and all the other things that have happened in our lives. Once you started hitting those first part of the teens we seemed to fight constantly. But, we are always still able to talk. I am so thankful for that.

We have made it so far in our lives together, you and I.

I have seen you grow in the Lord and now are becoming a leader to your peers! I am amazed. Not that you could't ever do it.....but that I got to watch and be part of it all. And that no matter how I have messed up, God is faithful and is guiding you.

I know I have said this alot lately, but I mean it every single time I say it.....I love you, Josh. And I am so very proud of you.

No matter what happens in life, you and I will have a bond that no one can break or take away. You are my firstborn. You are my treasure. You are magnificent.

You are already rising up to be a mighty man of God. And I am blessed to be able to watch where God is bringing you!!

I pray that all of your days will be blessed, my son. And that God will always be your guide.

I love you.

Mom.