Day 6 and 7: Relief and a Milestone

Friday was surreal and scary. I woke at 7 to news that one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was being chased down in the next town over and authorities were asking us to stay in our locked homes until the situation was resolved. As we watched TV, the events unfolding as slowly as a daytime soap opera, I had this strong urge to quit my diet and eat comfort food—life is short after all. The heck with broth (though I think my words were more emphatic than that), I want REAL food! I settled for adding avocado and papaya to my breakfast of chicken soup and eggs. Not exactly falling off the wagon, but the little voice inside me that said: "Hey, self, look how far you've come since that first miserable day, you've lasted five! And you're feeling better. Don't give up because some lunatic running amok with guns and explosives has pushed your sense of safety and wellbeing to the edge of a precipice." Hmm, good point. "And furthermore, you love avocado and papaya! Say, let's us eat a banana this afternoon, whadaya say?" So I agreed to stay the course. Thousand bowls of soup and all that.
Day 6 found me in services at synagogue. I needed to be with others, not so much to pray because that seemed more appropriate for the prior day's events, but more to be in community. To sit and sing with others who knew exactly how I felt, the sense of disbelief and relief following a whole day of drama or should I say trauma? A fellow congregant family had a bar mitzvah to celebrate and it almost didn't happen due to 'lockdown'. I wanted to be there to celebrate one thirteen year old's journey into adulthood—it seemed a fitting way to ensure that yes, life indeed does go on. The festive luncheon that followed was a buffet of grain-based and starch-filled dishes. But there was fruit salad and I enjoyed berries and melons as if they had been manna from heaven. I didn't even miss the pasta, couscous or potato salad. I had been fed in a different way that morning and I was sated.
Day 7 and I've completed a week on the diet. A Week of GAPS! Yay! A small milestone but one I never thought I'd reach. I've gotten more creative with how I make my soup: thick and stewy, pureed and creamy, broth in a mug with solids on a real plate like normal eaters, and I've started eating the cabbage in my sauerkraut instead of just the sauerkraut juice—whoohoo, roughage! Never take things that need chewing for granted. So on to week 2 (I'm counting in weeks now, it seems). Here's to a peaceful, healing, and uneventful week.