Waffle House - Lessons For The New Year!

This is a Christmas picture taken three years ago with my husband and our two beautiful grandchildren, CJ and Leah.  The next photo is from this Christmas, after two years on my journey  to a new me and dropping 136 pounds!

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words.  Well I don't know about that but I do know that a picture usually doesn't tell a lie and this picture speaks volumes.  Not only are my grandchildren growing up rapidly before my eyes, but I am only a portion of the woman that I was in that first Christmas picture that was taken three years before.

When I began my journey to a new me one of the goals that I had set was not only to lose weight but to regain my health.  When you become a grandparent you begin to see the future and your grandchildrens role in that future.  I want to be around to enjoy many more years of their lives and the best way that I know to do that is to take the best care of their "Nana" that I can (yes, they call me Nana)   I got to pick what I wanted to be called and my mom is Grammie, and my grandmother is Granny and I have always wanted to be a Nana, so now I am one.

This weekend we got to spend some great quality time with our grandchildren and if you listen to them you can learn alot.  They love for us to take them to breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, yes you guessed it, Waffle House.  Or as they love to say "Waffles House!"   Then we checked out the menu and I placed an order for them to share of the All Star Breakfast Platter.  If you are
not familiar with the Waffle House All Star Breakfast Platter let me tell you what you get.  Two eggs cooked to your choosing, a waffle, a bowl of grits or a serving of hash browns, two pieces of toast either white, wheat or raisin, and finally your choice of three slices of bacon, two sausage patties
or ham.

They listened to the choices and asked for the two eggs scrambled, hashbrowns, three slices of crispy
 bacon, white toast, and don't forget that delicious waffle!  When the food came to the table I asked for a separate plate and divided the feast between both of my grandchildren.  About half way through the meal the "Aha" moment came for me.  My grandaughter pushed away the waffle when her "half" was only half eaten.   She said "Nana me full and I don't want any more."  I asked her to give me a happy plate and she said "I'm done Nana", and then it struck me that what had just happened.  I was trying to have her clean her plate like I had been taught to do as a young child and in the process it came to me that she had said some powerful words, "I'm done Nana".  At four years old she knew what it felt like to feel "full" and she did two important things, she pushed away the plate, and she stated that she was done.

This was a great lesson for me to begin the new year.  This year I will slow down and enjoy my meals more.  I will anticipate that "I'm full feeling" even if it means that I leave food unfinished on my plate, and once I make the decision to stop eating, I will push away my plate and state (even if it is to myself) that I am finished.  I have come to realize that I have come a long way over the past two years but I  still have a ways to go.  So let me see just how far this lesson will take me.  I'm looking forward to my next few weeks and months and the progress that this little plan will bring me on my journey to a new me!