Day 6: June 13, 2009

And the word of the day is: temptation.

I woke up running today; not literally, of course, but I sprung out of bed and got swiftly moving on making our house more presentable than it was at the moment (lots of “m’s” in that sentence). My mom had called the day before and let us know that she and my step dad, or “the folks,” were coming up for a day visit. Commence kicking it into high gear.

Since I’ve been cleaning all week, I didn’t have glaring work, but it seems there are endless cleaning projects that you discover once you anticipate another set of eyes examining the place. Plus, there is also the aforementioned basement beyond hope. However, within just a matter of hours, I was able to make our humble abode far more attractive, even the basement.

Jere, Kaya, and I spent a very nice day with the folks. The real purpose of their trip was to drop off Kaya’s new sandbox, which she affectionately calls “Melmo” (Elmo) since it is red and has black eyes (it’s supposed to be a crab). Because I’m a little bit nuts, I’ve refused the sand that my “Pops” bought for it because it has silica in it, so we’re going to have to take out a loan against our house to afford the “safe sand” that won’t give our child even the whisper of cancer. I love my Pops beyond measure; he is truly another dad to me and has been for most of my life. But, he is a tad old-fashioned and thinks that my resolve to buy “organic,” to raise my child a flexible “vegan” (what’s life without a little bit of ice cream here and there?) and for my insistence on “safe sand” is worthy of committal to the nearest loony bin. I probably don’t have to describe his reaction to my 12 day fast/cleanse and my raw food challenge. (Food isn’t really cooked for my Pops unless the vegetable has been boiled for several hours and acquired a nice gray color.) Well, in spite of the occasional poke of fun and rolling of the eyes, he still humors me because he loves me. And his unconditional acceptance and support is why I love him right back.

I don’t quite understand the coincidence known as “you spend time with your family and all of a sudden you want to revert to your childhood and eat things like Hamburger Helper, Little Debbie snack cakes, Kool-Aid, and bowls and bowls of neapolitan ice cream with Hershey’s syrup.” But, I was severely suffering from that phenomenon yesterday. Several times, my mom asserted that she didn’t want to derail my cleansing efforts so that I shouldn’t worry about their hunger or taking them out to eat. But, she instilled in me better hosting skills than that. I insisted that I’d be fine with them eating and that I would just enjoy spending time with them. So, after we got done hanging out here and then going next door to plant some flowers at Jere’s mom’s place (who passed away in October), we decided to go to a nice family-favorite restaurant about 20 minutes away. I armed myself with my lemonade and some peppermint tea, as a special treat, and said a quick prayer that God would help me through the temptation.

All in all, I got through it just fine. Luckily, we have a very active daughter who didn’t want to sit beyond a bite of pea salad and one pasta noodle (I never thought I would consider that lucky until now). So, while the rest of the fam enjoyed their roast turkey dinner (Pops), pot roast (Mom), and eggplant parm (Jere, of course), I shadowed Kaya as she toddled about the restaurant. On her journeys, Kaya happened upon the dying embers of a wedding reception and spent a good rest of our adventure running to the room adjacent to the festivities, from where she could hear the music. She provided crowd entertainment by doing the Kaya shuffle (which is comprised of minimal hand usage and a very subtle bend of the knee in time to the beat, all of which MUST take place on wood floor and not carpet). Everyone loved her and cooed over her and gave her lots of free stuff. What is it about a cute, mini-sized human that inspires people to just want to give things away? She left with three balloons, some wedding favors, and an offer of a to-go container full of wedding cake, which I reluctantly denied her. The irony was not lost on me that there was an entire bottom tier of a wedding cake thick with sugary frosting flowers left behind after the reception, (which the staff was begging for people to take as much of as they wanted) juxtaposed with me. . . a starving girl. I chuckled with God at how temptation doesn’t play by the rules and was most certainly cheating at the game. But, I envisioned Him shrugging His shoulders and saying, “I never told you it would be easy.” However, He did promise me that He would help me through it, and He did. I left with nary a lick of icing in my tummy. Victory!

At the end of the day, I would say that my energy level has been outstanding and my hunger level minimal. And more importantly, I’m over the hump. Just four more days and I get to upgrade to orange juice. That’s the upside. The downside is that I’m getting quite tired of the lemonade and I am SOOOO over the SWF. But, ever the Polyanna, I will choose to look at the bright side. Day 6: Temptation conquered.