On Tuesday I got the sweetest email I can ever remember receiving. It was from my friend, Chris. About two weeks ago he and I planned to meet at a local music venue to hear some friends sing. It was a show benefiting the organization where I work and Chris volunteers. It’s been a couple of months since we’d seen each other.
In the email, Chris told me that he didn’t recognize me. He was looking around the room trying to find me, looking right at me several times. It’s with his permission that I share a few direct quotes.
“…So I just wanted to say I’m keeping up with you on your blog and on FB and you just do whatever it is you’re doing, ’cause it’s working like a charm. … you’re glowing like you haven’t before…So what’s the magic pill? Whatever it is, it agrees with you!”
Chris is very informed in all matters of health, exercise and nutrition (you should see his ripped abs in a few of his Facebook photos), so he knows better than anyone that there is no magic pill. While his email thrilled me to pieces, little did I know the next day (yesterday) it would save me from fast food misery.
Yesterday I took a vacation day to help a friend with a photography assignment. We traveled 500 miles across the state of Tennessee. We shot in six locations. Our journey began at 5:00 a.m. Now, I’m used to being in the gym that early, but arriving somewhere at that hour with makeup on and hair poofed was a departure from my normal routine.
As is typical with an advantageous schedule, things didn’t go as planned and that afternoon we found ourselves running about two hours late with three locations left to visit. My meals were thrown off schedule and I experienced off and on blood sugar dips. By the time we finished our photography we had been on the go for 13.5 hours. We were exhausted. I was hungry.
On my way home I found myself trying to justify a trip to Wendy’s drive through for a double cheeseburger and a large order of fries. And I would be passing a Wendy’s on my way home. How convenient. I did some heavy thinking and I actually convinced myself that I deserved this high-fat, high-sodium binge. After all, I had taken a vacay day to help a friend in need. (Cue violin music).
But then I thought about Chris’s message, “you just do whatever it is you’re doing, ’cause it’s working like a charm.” I realized that there is no charm in a cheeseburger and fries. I also knew what I would have felt like this morning if I had given in to the craving. And let’s don’t even talk about how puffy my face would look. Vanity, thy name is Pam.
So I drove home and had a small, healthy meal. I’m certain I would not have made the right choice had that precious email not arrived on Tuesday. Chris’s encouragement caused me to do the right thing when I was in a weakened state and couldn’t make such a decision on my own.
482gr8 
Well Pam I’m flattered and proud that I’ve been a positive influence on somebody…anybody. 😉 Your story is really sweet and inspiring.
u r the “queen” and only u know what I mean :-)) I love you support you and admire you….thank u for your blogs :-)) I love u
I love how you can take such a thing and use it to reinforce your amazing willpower! Go Pam!! As we come up on the end of the first month of this new decade I think you have earned a pat on the back! Keep it up.