I was thinking. I need to change my attitudes, or at least my habit of expressing my occasional unhappiness with my body. I need to not show it in front of the kids. What happens when Mercedes gets taller, and consequently larger, than me? If I stand in front of the mirror and say, "Gad, I'm getting fat," in front of her, and she looks in the mirror...well, you get the picture. I'm not going to put that kind of bad image in her head. This is my promise to myself. I don't need to go overboard, but I do want to let her see when I'm appreciative of what I see in the mirror.

the last trail...the next path