Putting Things in Perspective

M came home from her grandma's the other day with some pictures she had picked out from grandma's "picture cabinet."  I didn't think anything of it, figuring they were some old pictures that grandma wasn't too attached to, since she gave them to a 3 year old.  This morning I was getting ready and found this gem.

This is me circa 2005.  At this point I was still in college, madly in love with Tim and food and alcohol (and obviously really bad hair color).  Shortly after this, I reached my highest weight of 201 pounds.  I had completely forgotten about this point in my life, most likely because it's not a time I was proud of.  It helped to put things in perspective for me.

Lately I have been really focused on the scale and its lack of movement.  Still, regardless of which way the scale moves, I am eating better and exercising more than any other point in my life.  Seeing this helped remind me that I started this journey because I wanted to be healthy, not just for weight loss.  True, fitting into a size smaller is a nice; but living longer and feeling better are even nicer.  As much as I hate to be reminded of that time, today it served as a reminder of just how far I've come.