Walkin' on Sunshine!

Finally, we had a nice, summer day here in Ottawa.

For the last month, it's been raining almost every day. In fact, we had the wettest July EVER apparantly so a nice, sunny day here is not only a rarity, it's absolutely welcome.

Doug (my husband) was hillarious the other morning. He was in the bathroom getting ready for work and through the closed door he says, "I don't want to alarm you hon, but there's a big shiny object in the sky." "Really? Where?!" I ask. "In the sky" he says.

I hadn't had my first cup of coffee yet so I was a bit of a spaz; I didn't clue in at all. "It's the SUN" he said, laughing at me through the door. Man, I felt like an idiot, but laughed at my own gullability.

Getting back to the sun...

Doug, Caitlyn and I went to Dow's Lake today (http://www.dowslake.com/) to go for a walk in the sunshine, along the historic Rideau Canal. This is something that wouldn't have even entered into my thought process at 260lbs, but now it not only sounded "do-able", it sounded appealing! We parked in the lot across from the pavillion and walked along the edge of the canal, taking in all the great sunshine and scenery. The three of us walked and talked about all kinds of things including how incredibly blessed we all are living in such a beautiful city.

I was amazed.

Before I knew it, I had actually walked all the way to Lansdowne Park and back again without breaking a sweat. I nearly cried, right there on the spot. If there weren't so many people around, I'd have probably jumped up and down in celebration. That's something I have to work on... not caring about what people think. I should have jumped up and down, run up to everyone and tell them about my accomplishment. I should have done it.

Living in the moment - that's what I need to practice doing. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow isn't promised to me and I have to remember:

• Today, I live for me
• Today, I make sure I'm happy
• Today, I find the joy in everything
• Today, I appreciate everything that comes into my life
  
• Today, I take care of me
  

Like starting this blog. I've always wanted to jot down my musings. I tend to have a lot of them and never thought them worthy of documenting. Does that say something about my perception of my self-worth? Methinks it does. Why should I not write them down? I'm just as worthy of note as the next person. Right?

Yes.

Today I walked. It might not seem like a huge thing to those who do that on a regular basis. But it was a HUGE deal to me. I appreciated the sunshine today. I found joy in spending time with the people I love the most. I was so happy when I saw Lansdowne Park and I was even happier when I saw Dow's Lake Pavillion again because I knew I had accomplished something that only a few short months ago was completely impossible for me to do.

Thank you for a beautiful day. Thank you for the joy in my life. Thank you for every breath I take.

Blessings,
Ali