Best NSV...kinda long..sorry

After losing 100 pounds, then plateauing for 5 years, then starting to gain for no reason, I was diagnosed with Hashimotos. The meds have allowed me to lose about 11 of the 25 I gained, but it's slowed down to about a loss of 1 to 2 pounds a MONTH! At that rate, NSV's are the only V's I'm having these days! I am active...cycling, running, paddleboarding, hiking, lifting weights, doing aikido and ballroom dancing. I eat right. Some days I am frustrated to tears by the slooooooow movement of the scale, and the pudge clinging to my stomach like some sort of alien parasite that just WILL NOT die. It all feels kind of pointless sometimes. But...

My daughter drops my grandson off at my house every morning on her way to work. I "walk" him to school. It's across the street from my house. He is 5 and just started kindergarten and there are things about his gramma he just takes for granted. Each morning, we cross the crosswalk at the end of my driveway and go through the back gate of the school yard. Then he looks up at me and says, "C'mon Gramma! Race!" We take off and sprint across the soccer field and then the blacktop at the other side, until we reach the dirt playground on the other side of the school. I can still stay ahead of him if I want to, but its a challenge. I generally stay even with him and if he gets a step or two ahead of me, he weaves back and forth in front of me so i have to slow down to keep from tripping over him and killing myself. It won't be long before he's out running me though. The schoolyard is full of parents who wait with their kids until the bell rings. Most of them half my age. I am 51 this November. They look at me like I'm crazy when we come dashing and giggling on to the playground. But my boy will always remember that gramma ran him to school when he started kindergarten.

Last Sunday we were at my parents house, way out past the outskirts of town. Its a spread out neighborhood. It was just dusk and an ice cream truck came by. We could hear it out front. The kids had never had an ice cream from a truck. My dad tossed me some money and said to take them out and get them one. By the time we got out there, the truck was headed down the street. I put the three year old on my shoulders and the 5 year old and I jogged after it. I figure the cliche jokes about a fat lady chasing an ice cream truck were over ridden by the fact that I was carrying another human being on my shoulders. We had to chase the sucker a half a mile, but my kiddos got their ice cream.

When I was almost 300 pounds, I didn't even walk half a block, let alone half a mile. And I didn't sprint anywhere! I may not weigh what I want to weigh or look like I want to look, but I have given my grandchildren the gift of a healthy, active gramma who is going to be around for a long time. Who sets a good example of active living by taking them on 5K Color runs, bike rides, hikes, horseback riding, river rafting, rock wall climbing and any other activity that strikes me. My grandson has been in the dugout on my softball team since he was 3 weeks old. Last year he was our bat boy. He does the Junior mile at my 5K runs. My three year old granddaughter is doing her first competitive run this October. She's doing a Jr Half mile. She's more of a water girl and loves to go boarding with me. The boy isn't keen on boarding but loves to run. We all did the Color Run 5K in Sacramento earlier this summer and they and my 2 year old great niece are doing the Color Me Rad 5K along with my husband and I this weekend.

The scale may not be moving, but I am, and I'm giving my grandkids some great memories. And I think that's a pretty great NSV.