I’ll be celebrating another birthday tomorrow… #63 =] and when I blow out all those candles I’ll be wishing for less of me to love. Yep, wishing for less instead of more!!

Last week we prayed our way as a family through a medical scare with my brother John. God answered those prayers generously and now in solidarity as a family we have all embarked on a “FAMILY FIRST HEALTHY CHOICES CHALLENGE” that will run from 6/21/10 to 9/6/10 (and beyond for some of us) as we tackle weight loss, heart disease, high blood pressure, smoking and exercise issues, as well as drug and alcoholism (there I said it) and all the emotional baggage that goes along with any addiction.

My addiction is food. But I’m NOT going on a diet, although I do have a lot of weight to lose, my goal is a life style change…. a new approach to nourishing my body…. to rewarding myself… to loving myself unconditionally. My goal is… “Eat to live not live to eat” “Eat to thrive not thrive to punish myself” “Eat to survive not eat to kill myself” “Eat to live life fully not hide behind the food that’s turned into debilitating fat”…. and I’ll be using a tool, probably for the rest of my life, called SparkPeople online. I encourage everyone to join (it’s free) and do whatever it takes to light(en) up your life…. don’t wait until you’re 63!

Eating is not my only addiction… I quit smoking 8 years ago and I’ve lost weight before so I know I can do it again. What I have realized is at 63 years old life is not going to wait for me… it will go on with or without me… so I choose to be around so I can participate in our childrens lives as they raise our grandchildren and as my love and I grow old(er) together and while my mom & brother are still around….. because family is everything to me. There is nothing more important… except perhaps ones health.