In February of this year, as I was embarking on some changes to my workouts to make better progress on losing body fat and dropping some weight, Katy made a decision to improve her health as well. She had been going to the gym I was, but was determined to find a better way to get in shape.
Over the months I have called it a diet, or the Medifast plan, but she continually states it's not a diet or a plan, but learning to be healthy and a lifestyle change. Sure enough, going on Medifast through the Take Shape for Life program as she has carries with it a heavy dose of book learning. :) Through the past 9 1/2 months, we've both learned quite a bit about nutrition, about how our bodies react to certain foods and how to be healthier moving forward.
Though I don't yet have before and after pics to post of my own, I wanted to share Katy's initial before and after pics because for one, losing 100 pounds is just MASSIVELY impressive and two, I'm INSANELY proud of her! I mean look at her! :) Here is where I let you know she's not entirely happy with her clothing choice in today's picture, because the pants aren't fitting as well as they should (she keeps shrinking out of clothes), but she wanted to find similar clothing styles to match up with the initial pic taken on 2/15 of this year.
Now, in this time, we've both seen a decrease in some of the meds we were on as a result of weight loss and being healthier. Neither of us are on blood pressure meds (I was on two), and I'm off one of the two cholesterol meds I was on. For the first time in four or five years, my fasting blood glucose is in the normal range and Katy's lab numbers are great as well.
Katy would be happy to talk about how she got this far, but I can say this with certainty, that for most of us, being healthy isn't automatic; we have to work at it. She has incredible resolve, and she hasn't deviated even once from the meal plan she has been on. In the process I've learned to cook a lot of new, very fun dishes using some veggies I hadn't ever even tried before and found the best soy crumbles, I think, anywhere (Lightlife). I am now a firm believer in the awesomeness that is spaghetti squash and can make a mean cauliflower crust pizza as well. As someone who loves to cook, it's been a real joy to learn new recipes and find different ways of cooking healthier.
What I can't state strongly enough is just how amazingly proud I am of Katy. Her resolve is so much stronger than mine. While I lift three days a week and do aerobic activity at least five, I don't watch my diet nearly as close as she does (hence dropping just 8% body fat so far to her 16% and 16 pounds in the same time she has dropped 100). I am so in awe of her mental fortitude, but I always knew she was pretty incredible and one of the things that really attracted me to her originally 10 1/2 years ago was her mind.
I hope that perhaps while you celebrate Katy's success with me that you are also encouraged to pay a little more attention to your own health. I mean, all those who love you would really like to have you around a lot longer, I am sure. :) Maybe you don't need to take drastic changes, or maybe you would if you did, but just remember one thing if nothing else. Life is a marathon, not a sprint, so unless your doc is telling you something has to be done fast and now, you should do things without feeling pressure. Having said that, nothing worth getting comes easy and it will require a little bit of effort. God didn't make any of us to be lazy in any aspect of life. But if you focus on being happy while being healthy, you'll naturally end up where you want to be, when you should be there. Don't sweat the small stuff. :)
Today I get to experience the joy of being with my amazing, beautiful wife on her birthday. I thank God every day for her, literally, but you know how birthdays are and I like to put a little extra focus on her on this day each year. Usually that involves surprising her at work and stealing her away for the day, but we're on the Dave Ramsey plan this year, so we're not spending extra money on entertainment and eating out, so all I can give her this year are words, which I hope are good enough. :)
Now, I don't have any recent pictures to post, but if I did, you'd see that she just gets more and more beautiful each year. I don't know if it's SUPPOSED to be that way, but it sure does for her, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind a picture because she's ridiculously photogenic AND she's lost almost 70 pounds so far this year, so she's feeling, rightfully so, PRETTY good about herself. I'm incredibly proud of her for that, but the time to take joy in that journey is for another time, and then we'll do before/after pics so y'all can see how hard she has worked. :)
For now, I just want to share a little of my joy with you so you understand a little bit about just how special Katy is to me. And I'll share another bit of detail later this year on our 10-year anniversary, but for now, walk with me a bit through some details of how God has blessed me with her.
This morning, Katy told me she was thinking that, had we each taken the path we'd both planned originally, we would have both ended up in Oklahoma City, and she wonders if perhaps under that plan, God would still have brought us together. We both agree that we think He would have. That's not how it happened, though, and we went different routes that He still made sure brought us together, and for that I am massively thankful each and every day. I'll share more of that story in November.
I've been thinking over the past two weeks about what I would write today to honor my wife, to share with everyone else how much she means to me and how happy I am that I get to celebrate her birthdays with her. I kept coming back to the idea that I wanted to share some tidbits that bring me joy, because all of these make me happy when I think of her.
Now, as a guy, my memories tend to be focused on different things, and I tend to gloss over finer details as I get to the emotion of the memory or the main focal point. Usually, Katy just reminds me of things I forgot, or left out, or that happened slightly differently. Turns out my memory is OK, but I just get to the story by a more circuitous route sometimes, which I think is obvious now that we are six paragraphs in and I've said almost nothing so far. So we should get to it, shouldn't we?
Real or imagined, one of the things that sticks with me is from the spring or summer of 2006, and Katy and I hadn't been dating very long, or heck, maybe we weren't dating at all yet (this is one of those details she will help me with later), but the image stays with me. We were at her parents' house, and I remembering being in the living room and Katy was asked into the kitchen by her mom. As she walked that way, I thought I saw a bounce in her step (so maybe we WERE dating by that time, right?) that exuded happiness. And I thought to myself, "Being with me makes her happy. Is that possible?" See, I'd been through A LOT, and quite honestly, my confidence level was pretty low when it came to self-worth specific to relationships at this point. That image of her walking happily into the kitchen never left, and it's one of those memories I keep close to my heart.
In November I'll try to tell the story of how we eventually began dating after I'd put it off for a while, despite the fact I knew we were a great match. That's a funny story. :) But let's move to this instead. I remember the week that Zac was born. Katy had developed preeclampsia and was in the hospital. Zac wasn't due until the first week of April, yet here we were in the last week of January, 2008, and it didn't look like that timing was going to work out. I was out of work at this time but had managed to get a job doing some networking and computer setup work for a financial services startup group. As part of that, I was needing to purchase some hardware for placing equipment in a closet in their new location and was at a hardware store less than five minutes from The Nebraska Medical Center, where she was at the time. I'm talking to a store clerk, looking for something in particular, when she calls me to let me know they are taking the baby the next day. My response? "OK, thanks for letting me know." Seriously, that's what I said.
Well Zac was of course born the next day, 2/1/2008, by C-section, and whisked off to the NICU within minutes. As I was in the recovery room Katy was in briefly after his birth, I just remember the raw wave of emotion that overcame her at that time as she told me how much she loved me. Yeah, I know, it was the hormones, right? But I'm tellin' ya, it felt GREAT, and I've never seen her more emotional than I did in that moment, and I cherish it. I know that's her heart anyway, but to see it, and feel it, was something special I also keep close to my heart.
Let's fast-forward a little bit in that year, and the next, and the next, as I continued to be without work often as companies I worked for either shuttered my location or restructured my position right out of the business altogether. Not once in that time did Katy scold me for being out of work. Not once did she treat me or talk to me in a way that indicated she thought I was not doing my job as a husband and father. I'm not saying she didn't think it, or intimate it once in a while (because every man needs a little prodding sometimes), but I'm saying she never made me feel like I was worthless. She held me up and supported me and encouraged me. She kept working hard, making sure we had income and had insurance and once even left a good job so we could move to where I had finally been offered a job. She provided a shoulder to lean on, and cry on, and a hug when I needed it as my confidence took a serious hit over a three-year period. Every man needs a wife that supports him, that respects him, that lifts him up. I'm lucky enough to have that in Katy, and it's yet another reason I'm so thankful to God for placing her in my life. I know I didn't do anything to earn this wonderful woman, but I'm thankful for His grace in providing someone so incredible to share my life with.
Let's do one more. The external feature that drew me most to Katy, from the start, was her eyes. She has remarkable eyes, and in them I see kindness, and love, and softness, and intelligence, and the sparkle of contented joyfulness. She has so many characteristics that made me fall in love with her, but the gateway to all of that is what I see in her eyes. They say eyes are a window to the soul, and I can tell you with certainty that for Katy, that is 100% true. Anyone who knows her know what a sweet spirit she has, how loving she is, how peaceful she is and how kind she is. They see all of this through those amazing eyes. When I think of my beautiful wife, I think first of her eyes, because it is those eyes that drew me in first and provided insight into who she is.
So today I celebrate the birthday of my amazing wife, Katy. I'm so thankful for her, so thankful to God for allowing me to share in her life, and so thankful she has provided me with a wonderful son to spoil (yes, way too much) and love on. As my old friend Brian would say, "Today is a good day."
