Celebrating 60 today!!

Have you ever been to a 60th birthday party? The celebration of another birthday takes on a whole new dynamic when the transition of a new decade occurs. It is an awesome thing to be able to celebrate with someone the achievement of them being able to stay upright and breathing for that many consecutive years.

What about an even more rare event - like a 60th wedding anniversary? Have you ever been to one of those? In the list identifying a specific item or gift with an anniversary date, the 60th anniversary is said to be the Diamond Anniversary and this is the appropriate gift of choice for the happy couple. However what two old fogies are going to do with a bunch of diamonds escapes me - so if you are going for this gift then pick something that you might like back and pray that it gets in the will :)

 What do you get the guy who has achieved his own personal 60th anniversary? Maybe a soft chair and a good cup of coffee (hint, hint!). Today we are 1 week from my 'Jump Start' beginning of the next phase of my 210 in 2010 Challenge and today was a good gym day. Hopped on the treadmill, 30 minutes of 'fat burn' workout on Level 10 (it doesnt go any higher!!) and the sweat was on good, then off to lift heavy things until my arms went numb, then back on to the bike to play the dragon chasing game I found on one of the exercise bikes.

So was this the 60 day of my adventure? Nope, was this the 60th time I stepped out and tried something new? Nope - so what was the 60th anniversary all about?

I jumped on the scale, looked down and read the number 254lbs - having started this adventure at 314lbs, today is my 60lbs down, 44 to go day! Every drop of 10lbs deserves some celebrating. Every time I dip into a new 10lbs increment I want to scream out loud and fist pump my hands (if they werent so sore that I can barely lift them over my head). Every time I step on the scale and wait for the number to change I am in anticipation at the next achievement.

Life is all about small achievements. Small achievements grow and accumulate to form huge successes. We do not celebrate the small achievements enough. We do not celebrate the tiny steps and the increments that we use as we inch ourselves towards our goals - and we miss out on the encouragement, on the sense of achievement, on the satisfaction of a job well done. We need to celebrate our successes a lot more.

So here is my cupcake - all for me. In honor of me achieving a loss of 60lbs. Sadly this image of a cupcake is as close as I can allow myself to get to a cupcake, but here we are. Celebrating. (Waves flag in air, wearing a party hat and blowing a little blue plastic horn - sitting alone in my office).

Well, I am celebrating - even if you wont.

My goal for this time next week - to be out of the 250's and to step into the twilight zone - the 40's - the 240's.

See you there - bring cake.