Connected

One of my oldest and bestest friends turned 40 last week. We celebrated at her house today with a rocking BBQ. Here’s the picture to prove just. How. Rockin’!

Actually, she and I are total dorks, still to this day. As the class of 1991 turns 40, it would seem the way to celebrate is to act like it’s your 21st birthday all over again, wearing crowns and boas while in avid pursuit of getting wasted! I see nothing wrong with that. But Beth doesn’t drink. Thus, the picture above is a total faker just so we can be in the same cool kid club as the rest of the peeps on Facebook. Ha ha!

*Back in 1991*
Ok, why am I writing about all this? First, because when I met Beth way back in 8th grade it’s like our souls touched or something and she left her fingerprint on me; I think I did the same to her. In so many ways we are like night and day with such different positions on life (she’s very conservative while I am very liberal politically and religiously), but there is just something about her. I just love her. From the moment we met we were inseparable and as a result, I was folded into her family easily and I’ve hovered in their periphery for years. I know her brothers, her sisters, her nieces, nephews, her dad. I’ve been there for weddings, a premature funeral, at hospitals when babies were born, in home church services and I’ve kept tabs on them through Beth as life has continued. I know these people like family.
Here’s the interesting part two: I was walking up to the house with my two kids when I saw Beth’s brother in law. I have known him for years, he was at my house in October, for goodness sake. So I say, “Hi, Brad!”
To which he responded, “Hi.” Then an awkward pause. A pause that stretched on as I saw him look at my kids and me, trying to tie the pieces together. Finally, “Who are you?!” He didn’t recognize me! I told him I who I was and we both laughed. I was glad he said something because that was the theme of the party for me! It prepared me with the knowledge that I look drastically different. Even more different than I knew. I was a mystery girl, even when giving the birthday girl’s husband a hello and a squeeze to which he had the strangest, most distant response. I wondered if I had offended him or something when, about 30 minutes later, he came in and told me he’d had no idea who I was! We laughed.
I realized not only did I have to reintroduce myself to her family, but I had to try to naturally weave together details about our shared past experiences, hoping that I would jog their memories of who I was and we could all avoid that awkward embarrassing moment of them not knowing who I am and me having to explain it to them. “Yah, I’ve known Beth forever. You don’t recognize me because I’ve lost over 100 pounds but I have met you, like, a million times,” is a weird statement to roll out. And a mouthful! Ha ha!
I have to assume that they are not alone in trying to recognize me. It’s both a celebratory mark, but also kind of a scary one. The Tamara I have been for years is really changing. Becoming unrecognizable. It’s magnificent evidence of my progress, and now I get a choice: renew myself or reinvent myself. Or perhaps a mix of the both? Tamara: version 2.0.
What an interesting but truly fun day!
***
This has been quite a week this week. I have been SO busy at work and after work that I don’t even have my report cards completed yet! Agh! The last day of school is in 3 days. Oi! I’ve been packing my room and doing all sorts of fun events like a field trip, read in, assemblies, field day and more. It’s been intense. I’ve been tired.
Regarding my goals and diet, I decided to take it down a notch and not stress out about it. I know, it was weightloss warrior week, but sometimes life dictates slowing down no matter what. I only ran about six miles this week BUT I hit the weights hard. Tonight will be my fourth workout this week, which means SHOPPING! I noticed my workouts got really easy as I went, enough so I decided that tonight I’ll do the seven minute sets instead of the five minute sets. My workout should be closer to 30 minutes.
I’ve found a butt workout that is easy on my knees, a belly workout that makes my entire abdominal wall cramp up in an unpleasant Charlie horse from time to time, and an arms workout. I assure you- I’m feeling it big time.
And even though I was super easy on myself as far as my food and exercise go, I still lost 1.5 pounds. 🙂