Tragedy and Triumph

Last week the sudden death of a friend was a shock. He was only 40 years old and left behind a wife and four little children. It is absolutely heartbreaking and this family has been constantly in my mind ever since.

I just wanted to write about my thoughts since this is what this blog is—a place to express my thoughts and feelings about life in general.

I cannot imagine how this family feels. Perhaps they are numb right now and still in shock. To lose your father at such a young age. To lose your husband and your best friend. And suddenly.

No goodbye. No warning. No chance to say you’re sorry. No moment to express your love. Just gone. Forever. Gone.

I cannot know how this family feels having never been there myself, but my heart broke for them just the same. Empathy and sympathy combined.

I sobbed and I found myself questioning—why?

It seems so senseless. So unfair. So wrong.

I don’t like to question God and honestly this is the first time I’ve ever done so. But in his mercy, He gave me an answer that satisfied my soul—something my dad said not very long ago and I can’t even remember what we were talking about at the time.

“We are living this life—not for this life, but in preparation for eternity.”

It’s a tragedy in the natural sense in every single way. But in a spiritual sense, he finished faithfully in triumph.

This life is temporary, but eternity is forever.

Let the little things go. Let your loved ones know they are always loved. Remember that every breath could be your last.

And never, ever forget the true purpose of life.

Weigh in Day and Finalized Outfits for Family Photos

Before stepping on the scale this morning, I mentally prepared myself for a large gain. When I stepped on the scale, I was surprised to find that I could actually breathe a sigh of relief.

I only gained .1 lb.! Now imagine if I had stayed on track this week…I probably would have had a nice loss. But you never know.

Stats for the week:

• Weekly Points Used: All of them and then some 
• Activity Points Earned: 22
• Activity Points Used: All of them and then some
• Total steps: 46,546
• Weight Loss this Week: +.1
• Total Weight Loss to Date: –10.3 lbs.

I’m especially happy that I didn’t lose my “10 lbs. lost status”. I haven’t even gotten my pedicure yet!!

This brings up something that I need to work on—when I inevitably mess up sometimes, I need to remember that every healthy choice counts. I don’t need to wait until weigh in day to “start over again” with a clean slate. It’s totally a mind thing and as much as I wanted to keep at it…I kept thinking in the back of my mind, “well, what’s the point? I’ve already messed up this much!”. There is a point—health, and it doesn’t start and stop depending upon a couple of “bad” choices. It all counts.

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I was so excited to see that I received the skirt I ordered in the mail today!! I rushed inside to try it on and…”oh no”…I pulled another Alissa.

You see, I routinely make these stupid mistakes. Like accidently ordering the wrong color leaves for the tree decal in the nursery, or buying paint that I thought was gray and it was actually purple, or adding a cup of rosemary and salt to a recipe instead of 1 Tbs. Ok, that one is from long, long ago and was my first cooking experience, but you get the picture.

So what did I do? I gave the wrong measurements for my skirt! 3” too large, to be exact. I tried on the skirt and I literally cannot keep it on me because it’s so huge.

I may tend to make dumb mistakes like this from time to time, but you know what I’m also good at? Fixing problems. Although my sister says that I do not need to try to “fix” everything all of the time, I tend to think that in some ways this is a good quality that I have when it applies to things that do not involve emotional fixing…which is where I have a problem…and I’m working on fixing that one with my counselor…so I guess I just like to fix things. lol

Alright, so I thought…this skirt is just too perfect for the family photos that I’m not going to just give up on it. Better too big than too small. I safety pinned it together and it works. The next time I see my mom, I will see if she can fix it for me.

I really like how it turned out! What do you think? I will need to wear an additional tank underneath to make sure the chevron doesn’t show through my tank. The picture isn’t the greatest because I don’t have a good mirror (it’s old and has this foggy appearance that doesn’t come off of it).

I bought my tops at Old Navy (both the denim and the tank), and the skirt is from Needle Nook by Marcy on Etsy. The headband is from Hipsy Headbands which I ordered from Amazon Prime (affiliate link).

Here is what baby girl will wear:

And then I picked up this shirt for hubby at Old Navy. I was in a hurry and when I was leaving I saw a shirt that had all of the colors that we’re wearing…but don’t think I’ll have time to go back and get that one.

So what do you think?