Pancakes and politics

I am very pleased to report that all the vegetable eating and suppressing of the sweet demons within paid off for me this morning. I had an appointment with the OB and I lost a pound since I was last weighed by them three weeks ago! I squealed like a stuck pig when I saw that number appear on their scale and my happiness was not squashed at all by Nurse Ratched. (I joke, she's actually very sweet).

She logically informed me, "you probably lost weight because you've been fasting for your glucose test today."

I politely said, "that very well may be the case, but please just let me have this temporary joy at not GAINING anything this week okay?"

She had a point about the fasting, just not a very strong one. My glucose test was at 8:30 AM and I was only required to fast after 5:30 AM this morning. Not much of a hardship considering I do not find myself sleep-eating twinkies very often. I admit I did wake up hungry this morning, but I think that's more my brain knowing that I couldn't have anything even if I wanted it. I opened the fridge first thing this morning to get some water and found the leftover blueberry pancakes rubbing butter and maple syrup all over their delicious cake skin. As I softly shut the door on temptation, I whispered to them, "soon pancakes soon....I will be back for you."

The results for the glucose test won't come back for a few days and in the meantime, I am going to make a batch of brownies with applesauce. My rational is if I have gestational diabetes, I will have to eat healthy for the next 10 weeks. I'd best enjoy my brownies while I still can---just in case. I'm not worried about it either way since I've been trying to eat better anyway. Matter of fact, having a diagnosis would really be a good swift kick in the ass to eat right, no excuses. From what I understand about gestational diabetes, it is often a precursor for developing diabetes later on in life. So if I would find out about such a condition early, the more time I would have to counteract it through preventative measures now, the better.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and I happen to have the day off. For once, working the schedule of the stock market pays off (take that people that get the week off between Christmas and New Years)! But today is different than all the other MLK Days I've had off in past years where I was mainly happy that I didn't have to go to the office. Today is weighted with the significance of Dr. King's dream coming one step closer to reality when Barack Obama is sworn into office tomorrow. Congratulations America for making this day possible!

I've never seen such excitement for an inauguration in my lifetime. While I am not normally a proponent of lavish ceremonial displays (and some would argue rather effectively against such displays especially in times like the current economic crisis), I don't see how Obama's inauguration could be conducted any differently. The inauguration has been chosen to be a very public and therefore extremely expensive event, which largely seems to contradict some fiscal philosophies Obama campaigned on to win the election. But tomorrow is an historic day and it should be treated with fanfare to recognize all the people and years of struggle that made this day possible. I don't think it's so much a celebration of Obama the man, but the celebration of a people overcoming on many levels. Tomorrow marks the end of eight years that some of us would rather forget. And for many it marks a new day that has been a long time coming; a day they never thought they would see forty years ago. To suppress the festivities would be stealing the meaning from such a hard fought victory.