thankful

On Thanksgiving, mother and I drove down to Bridgewater to have dinner with my aunt. She can't travel easily at this point, so she couldn't come to us. We didn't want her to try to cook a huge meal, though, so she ordered everything pre-made from her local grocery store, and I heated it all up. It was pretty good. The turkey was the least exciting part, but I am not into Thanksgiving for the turkey anyway, so it was fine. We brought some squash pie (all of us prefer squash to pumpkin. Much more subtle taste, and it's what my grandmother used to make so it's the sentimental choice, too). It was all very nice, and good to hang out with Paula. We chatted and watched the dog show and the parade re-run.

I realized that I hadn't been there since April, so we hadn't been face to face since then. When she saw me, she started complimenting me (which I always find hugely embarrassing), and asked what I'd done to make me look younger. I have no idea, but I thought about it since then (as she kept going on about it, and kept bringing it up all day) and I think that it's less that I look younger and more that I'm happier. I was pretty miserable for most of last year, and by the time I'd seen her last I had lost most of the weight I've lost, but hadn't taken to exercising as regularly and was still on extra meds and was adjusting to living with Mom again, etc. I'm sure my stress level was still pretty high.

Now I've paid off some of my debt, got a new kitty, come off some meds, found out I still have a job, and have spent six months or so exercising fairly regularly. I guess that probably shows! I'll take it.