Slacking Off

Dearest Rachel –

I have often commented, when we would visit Kevin or vice versa, that we aren’t exactly the best influences on him. You know that he’s been trying to watch his weight; keeping tabs on calories consumed, sodium intake and the like at various time in the past few years. And you, in particular, would generally make an effort to try to cook him (and by extension, us) something that was reasonably healthy and in line with his current diet – although you allowed him to cheat, as well, as we would also make an effort to take him to restaurants that he wasn’t generally able to go to (when we were visiting him) or missed from ‘back home’ (when he came to see us).

Since I’m not the consistent cook you were, we’ve been more indulgent with him than trying to stick to a regimen of any sort. We’ve even let him slack off that much more on any sort of diet he might be on (indeed, you can probably tell from the phrasing of that sentence that we’re not even aware of any specific diet he’s on at the moment). There have been too many places to go to, and little desire to be deliberate about being careful as to what any of us consume. The only concession made to portion control is in restricting meals to two; one relatively late in the morning, and the other a somewhat early dinner.

I can’t say I’m proud of it, but it is what it is. At least he gets (and will get, based on our planned schedule) the chance to sample the local cuisine that he truly misses – deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs and the local Mexican place that he turned us onto so many years ago (and which we would go to on Saturdays when we would fool around for so long that all other places had stopped serving breakfast – their chorizo con huevos burritos were, and still are, both satisfying and delicious). But it does mean that we’re not exactly helping him out, health-wise.

As it is, however, this is starting to turn into a mutual slacking off. While I haven’t been as deliberate about watching my nutritional intake, I’ve been a bit more into exercise, based in part on the progress Pastor Joel’s been making (and my misinterpretation of his methods – more on that in a moment), and the encouragement I’ve gotten to continue my waking regimen, even after conceding that marathon running was not for me. However, since Kevin’s arrival, I haven’t gone walking for any length of time. It’s not like he could accompany me, as you know – even standing for a length of time wears on him, given the condition of his legs, and any shopping trip is more than a chore for him. So I stay relatively inert, in a measure of misguided solidarity, and any efforts of my own to affect my physique for the better go by the boards in turn.

Not that I’m really concerned particularly about my health – I know I hear about it from time to time from my doctor (who also keeps bugging me about getting boosted, and praises Dr. Fauci as ‘a brilliant man,’ which has caused me to lose a fair amount of respect for him, to be honest. I’m not into tinfoil haberdashery like Daniel is, but I am no fan of Saint Anthony, and while a man can be intelligent, he can also be wrong at best, and downright evil at worst, even in a field he specializes in. But I digress) that I need to improve it, to be sure. But it’s not so much of a motivator – indeed, I’ve known people who were told they needed to get in share or they would die, and my reaction to that would be to think I’d just get to see you that much sooner – as the need to regain what limited visual appeal I might still be able to recover, for the sake of getting Megumi’s attention, assuming she exists.

But yeah, it would seem that we are – almost entirely unintentionally, mind you – mutually bad influences upon each other, in terms of our various diet and health plans. To be sure, either one or the other of us could argue that we’re ‘on vacation,’ and thus somewhat entitled to indulge ourselves. But I’m pretty sure I get a lot more steps in when I’m on vacation, as a general rule (my week in quarantine being an involuntary exception, of course).

For what it’s worth, though, I think I will walk over to the local strip mall sometime this morning, as I at least need to get an anniversary card for mom and dad when we visit their place tonight for dinner. I’ll also ask them about what they might want for the occasion (which I think is on Saturday) when we’re over there tonight. It won’t be anywhere near the ten thousand steps a day I was trying to hew to up until recently, but it can at least be something.

And that’s another thing; I was trying to creating myself a habit of walking at least ten thousand steps a day – or at least averaging it – based on something I misheard from Joel about an occasion where he “got [his] ten thousand in.” I interpreted this line to mean that this was how he was managing to slim down. Of course, I was having difficulty figuring out how he got walks of at least four miles in every single day; however, upon discussing it with him, it turns out his walking goals are considerably more modest than that, and he does make an effort to moderate his caloric intake as well (as well as balancing its sources). So there’s that. Honestly, I think he’d be dismayed to think that the most significant takeaway I’ve had from his weekly Bible classes has been on some sort of diet and exercise regimen, so I think I’ll leave things here for now. Still it’s something to consider, going forward.

Anyway, you get the general idea. I’m not proud of the situation, and as I mentioned, I think I’ll do some thing about it today, at least. But I guess I need to stop slacking off as much as I have, wouldn’t you agree?

Anyway, honey, you take care of yourself. Keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.