Navigating Social Events

This weekend we attended the wedding of one of our bonus daughters. It was a wonderful weekend affair, and our friends we consider family converged from all over. As you can imagine, figuring out how to eat and hydrate was too in my list just below living fully in the moments and catching up with loved ones we haven’t seen in some time. Gone are the easy breezy go with the flow days of pizza, pancakes and wine (insert any edible challenge here). Every meal down to the coffee and finding enough water can stress you out when your diet has been mapped to the last second for almost a year focusing on getting it all right.

Now I am learning to swerve with grace and not make these moments crazed scramblings to keep a healthy focus.

Since we were in a hotel, I brought my bits and fruit to get me out of any jams, and lockout the hotel served some things I could work with for breakfast. Scrambled eggs and fruit.

The night we arrived there was a pizza party and I decided to order in my own salad from a local restaurant. No big deal!

On the day of the wedding I kept it light for breakfast and lunch with the hotel options and my room stash. Once we arrived at the wedding I selected the healthiest options and the bride and groom had chosen a local bbq for dinner which was amazing! I just loaded my plate with veggies, and the leaner cuts of chicken and meat and avoided the sauce. It was delicious.

This was the first big event since I made all of these changes, and I would be remiss if I didn’t address the alcohol elephant. When had I last attended a wedding or big function sans alcohol? Probably in the baby bouncing years. So it’s been awhile. I gotta say, the work I’ve done since April has paid off. Exposing myself to smaller gatherings through the months helped prepare me to handle this. I struggled with being ab “outsider” in my own mind relating to food and drink along the way with varying degrees of success. And by that I mean my own inner turmoil, not that of others. I’ve had tremendous support. My limits have been tested and I’ve bailed early on several occasions, using whatever escape tactics I could muster.

This time, as soon as the dance floor opened up I said to hell with sitting here in dancing tonight! And you know what? That’s just what I did. Ripped that Bandai’s off and danced…All night long. I had a blast. I loved every single moment.

So congratulations to our family and friends and in so grateful to all, for everything. I love you all si much. The bride was gorgeous and the camaraderie was better than ever.

Go out and live life, dance like nobody is watching.

Love, Sue

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