Sunday Honour Sunday

Datre:                                       Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
Word of the Day:                      foudroyant; overwhelming and sudden in effect; Pathology (of disease)                                    beginning in a sudden and severe form
Weight:                                     127 pounds
Goal:                                         lose 100 pounds in one year
Pounds to lose:                         95 pounds
Waist Size:                               56.5 inches                                                      
Rowing Duration:                     75 minutes, 34 seconds

One pound, that's it folks, one tiny pound to show for all of my hard work, eating carefully, and praying.  I guess its not that bad, at least, I didn't gain a pound and I am still headed in the right direction.  Golly, I never realized I had such a large waist, (there are none so blind as those who will not see!)

I have made two decisions lately, the first one, if you notice my daily indicators, is that I am including my waist size.  I think, sooner or later, my weight will stay the same,  and it is bound to plateau ; this does not mean that changes are not going on within me, I may be building muscle, and losing inches off my waist, which is an even bigger goal than losing the weight , so on that basis, I want to keep a record of it.   Also, I am going to try and do two rowing sessions a day, instead of staying on Cruella for such a long time.  Thus, I will give the total amount of time that I spend on Cruella,  after the completed second session.  I am hoping that I haven't bitten off more than I can chew,  in my effort to lose 100 pounds this year, but, I said, I'm going to do it, and do it,  I shall.

The second session on Cruella lasted 65 minutes, and 55 seconds, not as impressive as the first session, but, I'm still pleased.

My new lucky number is 39, although I can think of no reason why

On this brand new day of the brand new week, I'm starting to take a vitamin pill, and a separate Vitamin D pill, which I hope I will remembere to take every day.

I was ready to throw in the towel yesterday as everything seemed to work against me.  I had tried to transfer a television recording of the movie 'Summertime'  onto a digital video device (dvd) but there was a delay in the clock starting, and the movie failed to record successfully.    As well, I had to stop my first rowing session because of the weather, I lost over 50 % of the original post that I had created for yesterday's blog due to the internet connection constantly going off,  and not allowing me to save it for publication.  Finally, I fell down in the shower.

The positive things that happened yesterday is I was able to recreate most of my blog from memory, my very good friend Jenna gave me the opportunity to vent,  and listened to my ravings about the lousy internet connection, I did manage to get in a second rowing session that pushed my overall time to it's record, I bought 'Summertime' from Amazon so I will have a copy (and a good one) of this film when it arrives in the mail, and finally, I didn't hurt myself in the shower, and at my age, that could have easily happened.

I stopped going to church many years ago as I associate it with a bad memory, as a child, I was made to go to church, however, my belief in God has not stopped.  I pray, regularly, (usually at bedtime,) read the Bible occasionally, I must get a copy that is easier to understand than the original,  and like to chat about various religions,  and beliefs with other people.

I, honour God every Sunday by silently praying and thanking him for all of my blessings, and as you know, I have many.

I had the best mother in the world,  and I miss her terribly.  In a way, my mother died twice,  as she had Alzheimer's Disease,  and didn't know me for the last three years of her life.   In a manner,  I felt my mother had died because she never spoke, couldn't eat for herself,  and didn't seem to get any joy from her failing life.  There was just her body,  and that deteriorated more and more with each passing day.  When the physical death did occur, nothing much seemed to change,  as I had already been  through the grieving process,  I just couldn't see her anymore.

I did have a troubling childhood, we all know that, I was abused constantly, made fun of regularly,  and did not seem to know the true meaning of love.  Of course, my mother loved me, as did all of my sisters and brothers, but my mom didn't have time to give me any special attention,  and I felt unloved.

  When my mother would go off into one her endless tyrades I would try to piece together what went wrong so I would know how to avoid it.  But, there was no avoiding it, my mother simply couldn't handle all of her children, and it overwhelmed her.

My mother herself had had poor parenting, and clearly just parented in the way she was parented,( if you can follow that.)  Years later I confronted my mother about our painful history,  and my mom confessed that she was sorry for all of the pain that she had inflicted on all of us, and from that moment on,  any ill-feelings I was harboring vanished.

 I forgave my mother.  How could I not?  My mom had raised all of my siblings, and I,  in the manner she was parented, had done the unbelievable by keeping us all together,  and regardless of other opinion,  my mom loved us to the best of her ability,  and I will always be grateful and love my mother.

As luck would have it, I would be blessed by God granting me a second Mother,  in another way of course, Zac.

I started accompanying Zac on his weekly visits to see his mother.  Arthur Ferguson had passed away a year ago, and his widow, Eleanor, had recently been transferred to a nursing home in London, Ontario.

Arthur Ferguson, before passing away, instructed Zac, his second son, to ensure that his wife, Zac's mother, had no worries while she was alive.  I really admire that this man worked hard in order that his wife would not have any financial hardships.  After I accompanied Zac for a couple of months, Eleanor Ferguson and I got acquainted enough that we were both comfortable in each other's presence.

I enjoyed visiting Eleanor Ferguson and we hit it off; this was not a difficult task as Mrs. Ferguson saw good in everybody,  and enjoyed being with people, but I like to think that I had a special relationship with her, as Mrs. Ferguson always wore a big smile whenever I came in the room to see her.  It was about six months into our new friendship that I started calling Mrs. Eleanor Ferguson,  Mom.

I thought it was too formal to say Mrs. Ferguson,  and I was uncomfortable calling her Eleanor, so I settled on calling her Mom, first getting her permission that this was okay.  I believe Zac and his siblings were uncomfortable hearing me call their mother Mom, but they soon got used to it and recognized that I truly cared for their mother.  In any case, Mrs. Eleanor Ferguson, my second Mom, was truly a remarkable woman and I am so fortunate to have known this very lovely lady.

I had no idea that the impact of the death of Zac's mother would affect me as greatly as it did;  in a way, I grieved for the death of my own Mother, all over again.  However, God was very good to me in giving me two Mothers, perhaps he did this because I grew up without a Father, anyway, I am the better man for having these wonderful women enrich my life.

Now, lets chat about Maureen Beckett, also known as (aka) The Walmart Woman.  I met Maureen at work, she was responsible for training me on a new job at my workplace,  and my colleagues nicknamed her The Walmart Woman as she looked like she just finished shopping at Walmart. 

Maureen, always wore gold chains, big, flashy, cheap chains and the latest ripoff of a designer dress, usually a Scacci.  Regardless, of the designer-dress ripoff, it didn't do anything for Maureen, she just didn't suit designer clothes, track pants and a blouse would have been best for Maureen, she was that type of woman. 

Don't get me wrong, I really liked Maureen, she had a heart of gold (around her neck,) and it was her dream that one day she would win an academy award.   Maureen wanted to go to Hollywood and become the world's greatest actress, surpassing Meryl Streep.  Did I mention that Maureen was over five hundred pounds?

I am not one to mock heavy people, after all, I would be making fun of myself, but I think one has to be realistic about the achievements that are possible, and/or,  not possible, clearly, Gaboury Sidibe is an exception.

I frequently think of Maureen, obviously, and I wonder if she ever made the attempt at becoming an actress, I do know that she quit her job,  proclaiming she was leaving to go to Hollywood.  Well, so far, Maureen has not won an academy award, but every year I watch the Oscars on television,  and I keep my eyes out to see Maureen,  I really would love it if her dream came true!!!

Once again the internet connection keeps going down,  and I'm afraid I will lose my draft of today's post, yet again.  In order to ensure that you get something to read, I am finishing this post, and will start anew tomorrow.

Topics coming soon:

The last of the red hot meat eaters (can't wait for this one)
Elvis Presley, The man, the myth, the legend
The Sound of Music