It's not all bad...

Well, my daughter and I made it through the first weekend of performances for Mid-Columbia Musical Theatre's production of The Sound of Music.  It was a long week(with long nights), and we have another long one ahead, with rehearsals Tuesday and Wednesday, and then shows the next 4 nights in a row.

I bitch and moan a lot about the time being sucked up by this show...but it's not all bad.  I mean, as a parent, it never gets old hearing positive things about your kid...and my daughter is getting a lot of praise.  She doesn't have a huge part...a few lines, and she is part of a cute little dance...but she has nailed it both nights, which is not necessarily true of all the kids.  Heck, opening night she impressed a few folks because during her little dance, one of the other kids stepped on her shoe, causing her to lose it....but she didn't let it faze her. 

In addition to the quality time with my daughter, there is another nice side-effect of the schedule...it really doesn't promote eating dinner.  I'm making sure my daughter is all properly nutritious with her eating...but I have a tendency to go from a heavy lunch all the way to bed time, just making sure I stay hydrated through the evening. 

As a result, I am lighter today than I have in the last decade...under 240 pounds for the first time since the early 2000's.  I'm not doing as good as my wife, but over the last couple of years, I have been coming steadily down...at one point I was north of 280 pounds.

Before.  I'm the sloppy one in the middle.

Not the after...let's call in the In Progress.

There is less of me.  It's only been 10-12 pounds a year, but it is better than the 15 pounds I was putting ON annually the first few years after I got out of the Navy.