happiness and progress

When we first made the decision for Jerry to join the Army, we were met with much scrutiny, especially by those closest to us. Though I'm certain that the scrunity has come from a place of protectiveness and love, it has been difficult to deal with at times. Particularly when facing the very thing that had caused the scrutiny and skepticism to begin with: deployment. Adjusting to Army life has been difficult on many levels, including explaining and justifying our choices to loved ones who were/are concerned by the difficulties inherent to Army life. For those skeptics who read this blog, you should take comfort in knowing that we are happy. Most of you know that Jerry is not very forthcoming with his emotions. Nor does he spend nearly as much time as his wife on self-analysis (thank goodness...one in the house is enough!). But last week, he and I had a pretty candid conversation about how he feels about being in the Army. Of course, we both have concerns about deployment and separation from each other. But Jerry told me that he is happier than he has been in years. He feels good about himself and is proud of the work he does for the Army, proud of what he'll be doing in Iraq. And I don't know about you, but that just about made my heart burst with happiness. To me there are few things greater than seeing someone you love be happy and proud. So I thought I'd share that!

Here are a few pictures of my Giant, happy to be eating a HUGE lunch at a local restaurant (the Schieshaus) that we finally got around to trying, after many recommendations. The restaurant sits in the middle of the woods at the top of a windy road. You'd think that such a remote place wouldn't get much business, but the place was packed and people were waiting in long lines to place their orders. But the food was totally worth it!

Now that is a man seriously enjoying his schnitzel!!

Now, take a good look at the schnitzel. We'd been told that the schnitzels were huge, but I thought that the descriptions must be exaggerations. They weren't. I caught a few shots after Jerry had already eaten a good portion already....it was truly ginormous!

As impressive as that schnitzel was, I resisted and didn't eat a morsel. Instead I stuck to my mineral water at the restaurant, followed by a meal at home. I'm rigidly sticking to my Phase 1 restrictions and, thankfully, making great progress! I ended up starting on Phase 1 a few days later than I initially intended, but since then I've been all business! And have lost 7 pounds! Woohoo! Jerry got me a great South Beach Diet cookbook and I've been making some pretty tasty foods (chicken stuffed with spinach, garlic and feta is a favorite!), which makes it a lot easier. Also making it a lot easier now is the fact that Jerry left for his month-long training exercise today. Though I miss him terribly already, it makes it much easier to stick to my healthy eating without having to watch him enjoy my not-so-healthy favorites, like schnitzel and fries and pizza (mmmm, pizza).