Super Sweet 16

Today is my little sister’s Super Sweet 16th birthday.   I got up this morning with a to-do list much longer than I would have preferred for it to be.  But I guess I’ll back track, for the last week I felt kind of frustrated.  That’s why my blog was pretty quite, I guess I just felt stuck.  I almost canceled my Weight Watchers membership. I felt like the plan just wasn’t working for me.  But the truth of the matter is that I wasn’t working the plan….  My Little Sister asked me to go to vacation bible school and I’m glad I did, because I got a good word that I needed.  We talked about the Spiritual Armor of God.  Specifically, that day we discussed the Sword of the Spirit.  We talked about using God’s word as our offensive weapon (the sword).  God gave us all of the tools that we need to fight back.  Everyone has their own issue; my issue of course is struggling with the idea that I have to battle weight for the rest of my life.  I still haven’t fully accepted that I have to deal with this forever.  But, I left church feeling refreshed and renewed that God will help me fight my battle.   So, this morning I got up and went to the gym, I hadn’t been to the gym since last week when I went with my Shopping Cousin.   As I walked up the stairs to the indoor track, I got winded and out of breath.  Oh crap, I thought to myself, that can’t be a good sign.  I did some light stretches and turned on my Week 3 podcast.  Even though I didn’t exercise for more than a week, I refuse to go backwards.  If Week 3 killed me today, it was just going to kill me.  The first 90 second run was easy.  After the 3 minute run, it started to get a little tough, but I didn’t care, I kept pushing, as I thought back to the days where, I would look down and couldn’t see my lap over my stomach, or got out of breath bending over putting on my shoes.  I can’t go back there, it was just too miserable.  I also thought about Roni’s post called “Why I Keep Trying.” I pushed all the way through the whole running routine with no extra walks.  Every time I heard “Carli” say “ready for your next run?” I would say out loud, “Bring it on Baby, I got you, I’m ready!”  When I finished, I felt so proud, it was like I never missed a day.  Then it was time to get ready for the rest of the day.  I invited my new guy friend to the party, you know the guy that I mentioned before, let’s call him Mr. Man.  So, Mr. Man rode with me over my parent’s house while I helped my little sister get ready.  My Dad opened the door.  Oh boy, I thought to myself, this will be interesting.  Unfortunately, I had the leave Mr. Man downstairs by himself with Dad while I went up to help my little sister get dressed.  I said “Daddy be nice.”  To which my Father sternly replied “What does that mean?”   I tapped Mr. Man on the shoulder and said “Good Luck!”   He survived, even though I fed him to the wolves, LOL.  I later found out they talked about football and Lebron and other boy stuff.  …Anyway,  My little sister did it so big y’all.  She showed up fashionably late to her glow in the dark party. She had a grand entrance with an escort and even a balloon drop.  Can you believe it?!  She looked so fabulous!  That girl was rocking some HOT stilettos high heels, but you know they came off before the end of the night after all the dancing she did.  My Mama was so awesome to pull off the party of my sister’s dreams.  There were tons of overly-energetic teens dancing all night. Even us “old people” had such a great time!  After the party, we went to Uncle Bill’s pancake house, a local 24 restaurant, perfect for a late night meal.  Me and my Big Little Sister, and  Mr. Man chaperoned my little sister and the 16 friends and who joined her after party.  I told the hostess table for 20 people at 1 o’clock in the morning, she replied “are you serious?”  Yep, I told her we were there for the post-party meal.  Everyone had a ton of fun cracking jokes and hanging out, and I didn’t make it to bed until 4 A.M.!  My little sister said it was the best birthday ever!