VOLLEYBALL. OMG!

When I start to lose weight in earnest I get very energized.  I feel floaty and positive seeing the numbers go down and the clothes fit easier.  It makes me want to participate fully in life.  Saturday was the annual picnic some friends throw.  It is a gathering of musicians, long-time friends, new people, kids, dogs…all races, all professions, all ages.  It’s the best picnic in the world.

Every year the gathering includes a ton of really delicious food.  The hosts BBQ all the meat – chicken, ribs, brisket – and the guests bring the side dishes.  You never know what will be there, but it’s always good.  This year I brought fresh fruit because a) I had it in the house and b) it was a sunny day in the woods.  Fruit seemed like a good idea. Did I mention that there is also lots of sangria and other adult beverages at this party?  Yeah.  Temptation central.

Saturday marked a wonderful departure for me.  I went to the picnic having eaten a healthy breakfast and I immediately saw people I hadn’t seen for ages.  I brought my water bottle, kept hydrated, and filled it several times. There was so much chatting going on at first that I forgot about food.  Then someone mentioned volleyball.  It was Katherine.  She saw that there was a net set up on the field below us that no one was using so she got a bunch of us to go down.  Mind you, I do lots of things with Katherine, but I hadn’t played volleyball with her (in 25 years…weird) and I didn’t know she loved it as much as I do.  Anyway, a pile of people went down and we got a fun game going on the grass.  Sadly we were kicked off the field by a cranky diva, but everyone was so into the game that we moved it to the sand volleyball courts.  OMG.  We played so hard.  There were even some bloody injuries (I got one!  Wahoo!), but no one was seriously hurt.  It was SO MUCH FUN! I texted my husband who was home working on garage things and he was inspired to come up to join us. We made some new friends and got some great exercise.  I think we played well over 2 hours when you add it all up…and that is a monumental calorie burn.

The best part of the day for me was that I could do it.  I was a sweaty mess, but I was laughing and playing my best.  I made a couple of cool new friends and now a bunch of us are determined to get more games going.  I am looking into getting a volleyball set so we can take it on the road.  And you know what else?  On Sunday I woke up after a great night’s sleep and suggested to my husband that we take a long walk – which we did with our dog.  It felt great, too!

My reward? Well, it really is feeling good about moving again.  But ELEVEN AND A HALF POUNDS DOWN is a pretty cool one, too.  ;-)