Vigilance

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Vig-i-lance [vij-uh-luhns] - noun. State or quality of being vigilant; watchfullness. Like the Minuteman pictured above. Or like the airman who lived in my apartment building when I lived in Grand Forks. His job was to spend 24 hours at a time underground in a missile silo, just waiting for the signal to launch those ICBMs. He may have just been trying to impress me, but he said there was one time when he had his key in and his commander had HIS key in and they were thisclose to launching the missile when they got the stand down order.

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(On a weird side note, I always felt safe when we lived in Grand Forks, knowing that the GF Air Force Base and all those missiles would be at ground zero in the event of nuclear attack. Younger people don't understand this concept. I knew we'd be one of the first targets hit and therefore instantaneously obliterated, which was kind of comforting in a macabre way. When we moved to St. Paul, we would be a secondary target: major metropolitan area, transportation hub, etc. We had to have an actual plan then, since we would most likely survive the initial blasts. When we moved to Omaha, we were back at ground zero, with Offutt AFB here. Anyone else think like that? Anyone? No? Just me? It's amazing that any of us born in the '50s can actually function.)

But back to the reason for this post. I can see right now that this will be the most important aspect of this journey. It is all too easy to slip into complacency. "I'm doing so well that one more glass of wine (or ice cream cone, or extra helping, or martini, or fries) won't hurt." Well, I'm here to tell you that it does. And not only that, but I just feel icky when I don't eat right. I guess my body knows what it wants, and it apparently isn't that extra glass of wine or french fries.

There are a few challenges coming up: Dwight's birthday is tomorrow, we have a wedding on Saturday, and then we're headed up to North Dakota. My mother-in-law is a fabulous cook, but it's good sturdy German cooking. There aren't many fresh vegetables or fruits involved. I will have to be - what's the word? - oh yeah, vigilant.