37 Days

In 37 days, I'm getting married.

Holy crap.

I was mildly panicked a few weeks ago but I have a well developed ability to stick my fingers in my ears. La la la, I can't HEAR you. Some call it procrastination. Some call it denial. For me, it is a matter of survival.

In another life, I must have suffered from multiple personality disorder and it has dripped a little bit of crazy onto this one. There is a part of me that is Felix Unger meticulous. I write EVERYTHING down. I keep lists. I get uptight when things are messy and I have no use for incompetent people or lousy systems. I have an unnatural, kinetic need to stay busy (baking or ruining my work clothing with errant bleach spots).

Sometimes.

Then there is the other side:

The Rastafarian. ( Irie, baby.)

Yes, this facet of my personality shrugs, nestles feet into the sand and sparks up a metaphoric dutchie. It takes urgent documents and shoves them into one of several "junk" drawers which results in frantic needle in a haystack searches later on. It has to re-launder clothing that has sat in the washing machine until moldy. Under extreme stress, this side CHECKS OUT.

Way, way out.

Lately, work has been rife with issues. In my personal life, the big day is barreling towards me like a freight train and I'm taking in so few calories that grass looks palatable. I fully expected to wake up one of these mornings with the desire to scour the cupboards looking for the leftover prescription pain meds that I've been saving for a bikini wax. Instead, I am quite surprised to find myself mostly calm and fully engaged. I have been remarkably efficient the last couple of weeks which is completely contrary to my under pressure personality. This past weekend, we met with the event people at our reception venue and I participated in finalizing the details. Me! I actually had an opinion on the colour of the napkins.

This is progress which can only be attributed to the diet. I'm thinking that the sluggish, disorganized, somnambulist part of me can be directly linked to the excess weight I was carrying. I mean, how effective can one be in a carbohydrate coma?

Today, I am within striking range of twenty pounds lost. I should hit that goal by the weekend. And that will be after 24 days of dieting. I really shouldn't complain about the variety of food on this plan. After all, to lose weight this quickly, it could be worse. Much, much worse.

(picture courtesy of MSNBC)