Waiting, Weighing, and Working

As our flight date gets closer and closer I keep reminding myself that every little bit that you can do to ease the transition is worth pursuing; any excess baggage you can eliminate will make your flight easier and will increase your flexibility as you get used to your new life.

This simple statement has motivated me to get rid of a lot of household clutter (books, DVDs, clothes, etc.), digitize and shred excess paperwork, pair down collections, and, in general, reevaluate every little thing that takes up space in the house and weighs us down.

However, the biggest thing that has weighed me down is me. With that in mind, now that we are less than two months away, I have set a small goal for myself to work toward… to weigh less than 240 pounds by the time we leave.

This isn’t a huge difference from my current weight of 250 but when compared to the last time we were in Israel this is a massive change.

When we were walking around and exploring Jerusalem on our honeymoon in June 2009 I was doing so while weighing 350 pounds. I was still able to explore and do the things we wanted to do but I wasn’t setting any land speed records.

With so many things changing and so many unknown changes, I know that this will make a huge difference in my ability to adapt to a different lifestyle. I will be able walk everywhere comfortably (or as comfortably as I can in the summer heat) and not dread the walk back.

I am looking forward to exploring without the time constraints that a vacation puts on you and without the burden of 110+ useless pounds. There is enough stress during the Aliyah process without the additional stress on my body of so much excess weight.

Of course, this will also help with the food budget as well!