Yesterday, I started a one week cleanse-diet. I have never done anything like this before and thought why not give it a try. It's actually called the GM diet, started by General Motors decades ago to help keep their factory workers in shape. Weird, huh? Can you imagine your employer putting you on a diet?
Everyday the foods you can eat changes and by the end of the week you could lose 10-17 pounds. Honestly, I am highly skeptical and kind of doubt it so this is really a test to find out if it really works. Day 1, yesterday, all melon, all day. You know, it's a good thing that I have recently developed a love for cantaloupe because for breakfast and lunch yesterday, that's all I had. I tried to shake things up a little and had watermelon for dinner but could barely choke it down. I bought from a "fruteria" (little produce store) down the road- the man told me the watermelons were very sweet and delicious....this one tasted like grass. Also, in the states we've gotten quite spoiled on seedless watermelon. I don't know when the last time was I had to dig/spit out watermelon seeds. Let's just say I did not enjoy that part very much.
Today is all vegetables but wait, a treat....a baked potato for breakfast! I wouldn't go so far to say "who eats potatoes for breakfast??" Because as an avid breakfast lover, I enjoy some good hash browns with my morning meal, but a potato with just a "pat of butter" (which I'm pretty sure I exceeded the normal "pat" size) was rather hard to get down this morning. I did it and I'm feeling good....we'll see how the rest of this week goes.
On a different note, my family is in somewhat of rough situation right now. After years of steady decline in the health and Alzheimer's status of my uncle/grandfather, "Bobba"/"Dede"/"Bob", we are now preparing for the worst. I can't even bring myself to type the real words to explain the situation because I don't want to think about it, but I think you know what I mean. I am so sad at the thought of really losing him. Though he hasn't been the "Bobba that we knew as kids" for many years now, we have grown accustomed to this silly Bob who makes jokes and doesn't remember our names, and talks to every woman in public and does crazy things like eat sand dollars out of a bowl on the table because he thought they were candy. Yes, we love this Bob and the Bob he used to be. He has been a part of our lives, for our whole lives, and holds a place in our hearts that can be replaced by no one else. If you don't know my family very well, you might be confused by the uncle/grandfather title. Bob is technically my uncle, the brother-in-law to my mother. My mother's sister, Joyce, my Meme, is 19 years older than my mom. So when my mother's parents passed away when she was just 13, she lived with her sister, Meme & Bobba, for the rest of her growing up years. Bob is in all respects, her father, and my grandfather. He's also one of the most fun-loving, silly, goofy, hilarious, and genuine people I've ever known in my life. I often think back to what it must have been like for him, to not only lose his in-laws within 6 months of each other, and deal with the stress of helping his wife through that, but then the reality that he will now have not only 3 children and mouths to feed, but 4- and another teenage girl at that. But his heart has always been so full of love and kindness and compassion, I'm sure that he never even thought the things that I sometimes think I would in his situation. He didn't ask for that and he didn't plan on it but despite all, he loved her just the same and was a wonderful father to my mom and the best grandfather any of us could have asked for. Please be praying for our family, and especially my Meme, Joyce, as we walk through the next days and weeks. You are never prepared for situations like these. But at times like these I am never more thankful for the peace, love and comfort of the Father who holds Bobba in HIS hands.
