Change Happens

My kids started school yesterday. That means I now have a high schooler and two eighth graders. We took the annual first-day-of-school-at-the-bus-stop photos, waved as they got on the bus then went back inside the house. The same routine as each of the previous 10 years. But there was something different about this year.

The girls wore dresses rather than last year’s shorts and T-shirts. The boy spent an awful lot of time making sure his hair was just right, refusing to let us touch it. Lunch boxes held carrots and cheese sticks, no animal crackers. And there was a physics text book in one of the back packs.

How did this happen? Where are the shoes with lights in the heels and Velcro straps? The pigtails? The dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and tears at the thought of getting on a bus rather than a mad dash to get seats at the back?

It happened gradually. I can’t say it happened when I wasn’t watching, because the truth is, like most parents, I was watching like a hawk. No, this is what time does. It changes things. Sometimes before our eyes, sometimes behind our backs.

It’s an important lesson for anybody, but especially for those of us on weight loss programs. The slow accrual of time can change things. The question is, are you going to change it for the better, or are you going to let it slip away toward something you don’t like, something that’s not healthy or good for you.

The choice is yours. Things are going to change whether you like it or not. But you have the power to use time to help make changes for the better. Improvements to your health, your attitude, your feelings about yourself and those around you, your sense of control.

While I miss those days when backpacks held blankies and sippy cups, I love these days. The change has been for the better. Yours can be, too.