The holidays...and weight....and homesickness....

The holidays are here again....we just decorated a bit today, putting up some festive Christmas stuff.  We had a great Thanksgiving, although familiar faces and laughter were definitely missing. 

We've been down here almost a year now and I definitely miss home.  Whether it be friends or family or certain places....I miss them all.  For a while there, I kept getting these flashes of memory, of places in Michigan....not even real well known places either, like Comerica Park or Greenfield Village, but just random places, like a corner on Hall Road....something that I would see everyday back home but never thought much of.  Weird stuff...The Fall is something I missed so much this year.  You mention cider mills down here and they look at you like you're crazy.  Michigan definitely has the market on the apple business.  I do miss a juicy, sweet Michigan apple. Don't get me wrong, we're getting Fall weather right now....but it's practically December!  If I were at home, I would be anticipating the snow....maybe even looking forward to that first snowfall of the season....the first major one that turns the side-streets into a different world at night - like a blanket of silence covers the Earth - like you're the only one left standing.  Something magical about that time.  Makes you want to grab hold of it and stick it in a box and lock it up...keep it forever.

I have put on so much weight since we've come down here.  I hate it.  It's one part amazing food and one part depression.  The food is crazy good down here - Mexican, BBQ, steak, Tex-Mex, etc etc etc....where ever you turn, there is amazing food.  The depression stems from the fact that I'm homesick...I know this with my whole heart.  It's getting better....I'm learning to pull myself out of the ruts when I get in them....But sometimes it's tough.  But I swear, I am a skinny person stuck in a fat person's body and it kills me!  I think this week I'm going to start back with Weight Watchers....I was able to lose 30 pounds the last time I joined and I should have kept going....But no time like the present to start back.  I need to do this for my health because I'm not getting any younger.  So, I'm sure I will be posting results of my weight loss here as I go forward. I can't wait to start.