ruminations 2 Comments

Remember Who You Are

I should really be getting my lunch ready for tomorrow, and getting to bed. Instead, I’m going to crank out this quick post. I may come back to this idea later on.

When I was younger, and would go away from home for a while — say, on a Girl Scout camping trip, or a slumber party, or whatnot — Mom would always say to me, “Just remember who you are and where you come from.”

I always assumed she meant to conduct myself as an upstanding Mormon girl, and that’s how I took it at the time. However, I found out later in life that Memaw used to say the same thing to Mom when she was younger, and that made the meaning even deeper for me. Especially when I got to be older and grew away from the church.

So, who am I? And where did I come from?

(Besides the obvious answer that I’m Diana and I came from my Mommy’s belly.)

I think that might be why I’m so into genealogy lately. To find out where I come from. I come from a long line of poor farmers, from what I can tell. Even Memaw farmed as a youngster, migrating with her family to follow the crops. Memaw’s mother, Granny, farmed until the end; she had the most fantastic leathery skin from being out in the Florida sun all her life.

The “who I am” part is something that seems to change regularly. Wife, daughter, friend, Sky Bank employee, amateur genealogist, web designer, drum corps enthusiast, photography hobbyist. I’m not sure how I identify myself anymore. It’s like I read in one of my Star Trek books (yes, I get my philosophy from lofty sources): The purpose of the game of life is to figure out what piece you are.

Maybe I’m too tired to be contemplating such things. But it’s interesting food for thought.

Remember who you are, and where you come from.

weight loss 1 Comment

Diet & Fitness Update, Week #5: MINI-GOAL #1

Bottom line: I didn’t quite make my goal of 209 by Valentine’s Day. If not for my ultra-depressed weekend of yummy binging, I might have made it. I ended up being only a pound and a half short of my goal, weighing in at 210.5 lbs.

Measurements as of 2/16/06:

Height: 5’10”
Weight: 210.5 –> down two pounds since 1/16/06
Bust (at maximum fullness): 45″ –> down one inch
Chest (just below bust): forgot to measure this one
Waist (one inch above navel, where my pants live): 43.75″ –> down 1.25″
Hips: 49.5″ –> down ½”
Neck: 14.5″ –> down ½”
Upper Arms: 13.25″ –> down ¼”
Lower Arms: 10.25″ –> down ¼”
Thighs: 25.5″ left / 25.75″ right –> down ½” left, ¾” right
Calves: 16.125″ –> increased one-eighth inch

Still not exercising as much as I should. Did Tae Bo Cardio on Monday (didn’t make it through the whole workout), worked my abs and chest on Tuesday, and slacked for the rest of the week. I’ve taken a 30 to 40-minute walk every day at lunchtime, though. My day feels totally incomplete without that.

My fat intake is a little elevated, and my carb intake is a little lowered. I’ve still been eating fish and chicken, staying away from burger, and eating vegenaise and other low-fat condiments and dressings. However, I’ve been eating major carbs just for breakfast, like oatmeal or my new Cranapple Crunch cereal. The rest of the day, I’ve been sticking with salad and veggies and meat.

So, that’s the long and short of it. Still eating well, still making an effort to be more active. Still coming to terms with the fact that this is taking a lot longer than I’d hoped… but still sticking with it.

memories, photos 6 Comments

Happy Birthday, Carrie (er, Carolyn)!

Carrie and I were best friends in Middle School. We sat next to each other in the first day of Choir in seventh grade, completely by chance, and ended up as friends. We were both awkward adolescents in our own ways, rejected by the majority of our classmates, and that fact was probably our biggest bond. I was a new kid at the school that year, too, and shy to boot, so finding friends wasn’t easy for me.

As with all friendships at that age, we had our ins and outs. Carrie had a very peculiar sense of humor, and if you didn’t know better, you might think that her jibes and insults were really meant. She liked to call me “Tech,” because I always used long, technical words, and she often poked fun at me for my long strides and fast walk. At dances, the term “wallflower” somehow morphed into “Wall Idiot,” her endearing term for my tendency to never actually dance, and especially not with boys.

She also never failed to badger me during the two months between her birthday and mine. Her mantra would be, “Ha, ha — I’m older than you!” (If you know how old I am, you can already see where this is going.)

During the summer after 8th grade, Mom separated from my stepdad, Tom, and so ended my stint in the North Central Local School District. Carrie (who opted to go by her full given name of Carolyn in high school) and I still stayed friends, visiting one another during the summers between school years. Even into college, I would borrow Mom’s car and drive from Medina to Creston to visit during breaks, especially summer.

We started to lose track of one another later in my college years, especially as she became involved with her then-boyfriend, now-husband Jeff. Still, though, we made sure to keep in touch somewhat, always making sure that we knew how to reach one another, should the occasion arise.

Not long ago — well, over a year now, I guess — I received baby photos from Carolyn’s mom, Candy. Shortly thereafter, I received an invitation to attend a baby shower for Carolyn. Of course, I Mapquested the directions to Carolyn’s house in West Bumfuck, Ohio, and drove the two and a half hours out to see her and her new son, armed with a soft and fuzzy teddy bear.

The coolest thing about the visit, besides seeing Carolyn’s new son, was hearing her call me her best friend again. It’s like that, isn’t it? Once best friends, always best friends, even if you have other best friends in the interim. Sure, we hadn’t seen one another in probably four years, but I still have the right half of our “Best Friends” necklace from circa 1988. 🙂

Tomorrow, I believe, Carolyn turns 30. I have a card all ready to send to her. My inscription?

“Ha, ha! You’re older than me!”

I’ve been waiting over 15 years to say that. Now I just need to unearth her mailing address…

Update, 10:35pm: Found it. Had to clean (well, sort) my entire desk area, but I found the baby shower invitation. Carolyn’s address is now in my Palm Contacts, synched to my iPod, so I won’t lose it again. 😛

genealogy

Tracking Uncle Russ (1915 – 1996)

Looks like the check I sent to the State of Ohio Vital Statistics cleared on Friday night. That means that Uncle Russ‘s death certificate should be on its way to me soon! Yaye!

I plotted out a timeline / ancestor profile for William Henry COOK last night. It’s amazing how much of my information is straight from the U.S. Census. There’s barely any primary sources at all, mainly because the family moved around so much that I don’t know where all his kids were born. Getting Uncle Russ’s death certificate should help give me somewhere to start, though.