Ham, Team B I think

Hi folks;

Holy cow, it sure is hard to keep up with the family antics. I'm sure we have never communicated so intensely before-well maybe many of you did; so this is especially fascinating for me and I'm glad I have had time to "digest" all of your thoughts, fears, successes and life in general.

Birgie, you're top of mind for all of us right now. Your diagnosis is a bummer, but not a death sentence. So I applaud you for carrying on with all of your plans and keep looking after yourself.

I was at my fat man's club this morning and Harvey Brooker talked about the lead article in Time magazine this month talking about appetite and all the current thinking about healthy eating-raw veggies are good Neenie, but we need more. He is really unforgiving and reduces everything to thinking about what we put into our mouth. I think there are a lot of smatterings of this logic throughout the blog. And believe me I struggle as well.

I recorded everything I put in my mouth including the wine and the scotch and the Chinese dinner during this past week. The long and the short is that I lost 2.5 pounds but I definitely didn't do everything that I should have. So I am learning that even when I go astray it is for me to get right back on track. No nonsense, no guilt, just do it. I have never had such an experience where so many men are in the same room with the same problem-we don't know how to eat healthy. Imagine a bunch of men some on oxygen, some over 300 pounds climbing stairs to the second floor to sit in a room crammed with 150 of us to listen to stuff we really know, but had chosen to ignore. No special foods; no injections; no diet pills; no silver bullets, just learning to care about what you put in your mouth. And I will have to learn to abstain from things such as potato chips and salami, simply because I can't just have a little bit-I haven't been to Tim Horton's or McDonalds for several months simply because of the temptation and I have no reason to believe that I will go there anytime soon.

I am so impressed with everyone's enthusiasm to share their stories and information. It's spectacular. I have to mention that while the storm struck us on Friday, I had to be working outside to prepare for workmen on Saturday. It was awesome and I go absolutely drenched but invigorated while clearing brush. Aside from the sheets of rain that pelted me and the thunder and lightning, I watched a large tree on the property next to us succumb to the power of the wind. Absolutely stunning; we really are only a tiny piece of this thing we call nature.

Have yourselves a great week; show your tenacity to do this!

Love

Ham