September is here.  That means the leaves will start turning brilliant, beautiful colors very soon.  It’s not long until it gets cooler out (yay!), and before you know it almost everything will be flavored Pumpkin Spice.  You’ll go to McDonalds, and they’ll be all, “Would you like to try our new Pumpkin Spice chicken nuggets?”    The problem with Pumpkin Spice is that it gets WAY overused.  Pumpkin Spice hot chocolate=Good.  Pumpkin Spice M&M’s=Bad.

September also means that pretty much all the kids have gone back to school.   Soon they will all be sharing everything, including some really fun diseases.  It’s good to share, kids, but I’m sure your parents would appreciate you not bringing the flu home any sooner than you absolutely have to.

The start of a new school year has always fascinated me.  For a very brief window of time, students get to make a fresh start.  Sure, the previous school year was absolutely abysmal, but it’s a new year.  It’s time to be more mature.  It’s time to actually do homework.  It’s time to prove you’re smart and not just a wallflower.

It occurs to me that the kids aren’t the only ones making a fresh start this new school year.

A little over a month ago, I came to a startling realization.

I’m married.  I’m no longer single.

Okay, I know this shouldn’t be such a shock.  I think in my head I knew I was married, but I was so scared that it wasn’t real, I was refusing to let my heart believe it was true.  However, it is true.  Our marriage isn’t perfect, we’re not perfect  people, but we sure are adorkable!

See, we’re super adorkable!

At the same time it hit home for me that we really are officially a permanent part of each other’s lives, it also dawned on me that I had a really bad habit.  I’m an emotional eater.

It started way back in junior high.  I was getting bullied, and the only way I could deal was by eating.  Which lead to even more bullying.  It was a vicious cycle.  Once junior high ended things got better, and I did pretty well throughout high school.  It helped that I was in swing choir, because I got a pretty good workout most days of the week.  Then in 2004, a year out of high school, things went pretty kablooey at home, and I found myself constantly eating.  I didn’t want to burden people with my emotions, and to be honest I really didn’t trust most of the world around me.  So, I ate…and ate… and ate…and ate…  I turned my brain off, because I didn’t want it to tell me I was full, and to stop eating.  Instead, I spent the next several years eating and ballooning.  There were a few times I made weak efforts at losing the weight, but frankly I didn’t really care enough to make it work.  Besides, by 2011 I was convinced I was going to grow old and be the crazy spinster cat and book lady.  So, it didn’t really matter if what I weighed or how I looked.  The only person who cared was me, and I really didn’t care.

Now, though, there’s this boy, and crazily enough I trust him.  I trust him enough to realize that it’s okay to vent about my frustrations verbally, instead of eating a large Hawaiian pizza by myself.  He cares about me, and actually wants me to be healthy.  And more than that, I want to be healthy for him.

The worst part about having a bad habit  is trying to break it.  In August, I made a goal of not eating fast food for a month.  I also joined Weight Watchers.  I actually did pretty well.  I only had fast food 3 times, and I was really good about tracking what I was eating.  Now as I head into September, I once again am planning to avoid fast food all month.  I’m also not going to drink any soda.  I did have to cancel Weight Watchers, not because I hated it (I actually loved it), but because I found out that a bill that I knew was going to go up this month is going to go up quite a bit more than I was originally told.  I don’t know that we’ll be seeing a skinny me anytime soon, but I’m at least making an intentional effort now.