206 pounds On Wednesday I claimed I was going to work on getting myself into shape and getting my weight down. I've decided that I really need to drop twenty pounds. (I would not mind dropping twenty-five pounds or even thirty pounds but I want to set a goal that can be achieved in some reasonable time frame without herculean efforts. The search for perfection is the enemy of good enough.) I had said then that I needed to weigh myself and establish a starting weight. 206 pounds is the figure I got from my digital bathroom scale. Is that perfectly accurate? Might I have been a pound or two under or over if I stepped on a scale in a doctor's office? It doesn't matter; what counts is future weight relative to this starting point and this is the scale that I will be using to track progress. (Actually, I'd weigh a bit more in the doctor's office 'cause -- at least in my doctor's office -- the scale is in an open area in the hall that contains the examination rooms so you get weighed with clothing on but that 206 pound figure is nude weight.)

I don't know how long this is going to take.

ANNIVERSARY -- 06/23/00

Today is our 21st Wedding Anniversary!

As I've explained elsewhere on this site, Nancy and I were married on June 16, 1979 by a judge in his chambers, attended by two couples who were friends of ours. After the ceremony we all went out to lunch at a restaurant that had seating on an outdoor patio on the banks of the Chenango River (near its confluence with the Susquehanna River) in Binghamton, NY. When the restaurant manager found out we had just been married, he sent our table a complementary bottle of champagne.

That took care of the legal requirements for marriage. The following weekend, June 23, 1979, we had our real wedding. Nancy's parents hosted our wedding in their large backyard. Friends and family were gathered on the lawn facing the patio behind the house. Nancy and I wrote our own service which we read with the assistance of two dear friends who served as the equivalent of Best Man and Maid of Honor while two others (a friend of Nancy's since childhood and a brother-in-law) provided musical background. We proclaimed ourselves to be married. After the ceremony we had a wonderful party. A band provided music for dancing on the patio. The backyard was filled with tables and chairs and a buffet lunch was served.

It was a wonderful party that went on all afternoon long. The party was still going on when we had to reluctantly leave to catch an 8pm British Airways flight from JFK to London. We spent a week and a half (actually, almost two weeks, returning on July 5th) in London. We stayed at the Presidential Hotel, near the British Museum, and spent the entire time exploring London except for a day spent at Wimbledon and a day trip to Winchester and Salisbury (Stonehenge). We did all of the tourist sites (Tower of London, London Zoo) and the museums (we are both addicted to art museums) and also saw several theatrical productions (No Sex Please, We're British; Bedroom Farce; Chicago; Canterbury Tales; and Bubblin' Brown Sugar if memory serves correctly after all these years) and had a marvelous time.

How can twenty-one years have possibly gone by since then? (Yes, yes, I know, that is what I say about everything, I'm continually amazed at the swift passage of time...) Our twenty-first anniversary... Our baby girl is now eighteen years old and has just graduated from high school. Our little baby boy is now fifteen years old, weighs around 220 pounds, and looks like a college student. One of the little toddlers who was running around at our wedding is now married with two little ones of her own. Just amazing.

We are not prone to doing major celebrations of our anniversaries. We will probably go out to dinner tonight... the kids are both working so it will just be Nancy and me.

That will be a nice start to a pleasant summer weekend. I plan on running in a 5k race on Saturday morning. Nancy has at least one tennis match scheduled for the weekend. Jennifer and I and one of her friends are considering going hiking in the Catskills on Monday; that should burn a few calories. Hope you all have a good weekend.

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