Eat healthy or DIE.

This used to be my favorite kind of dinner...

Now I'm more for the salad: heavy on the leafy greens and light on the dressing. 

But, that's okay. Since my dad had a heart attack in April and a triple bypass in July, I am realizing the importance of daily choices. I mean, I always knew...just didn't really care. There's an episode of How I Met Your Mother in which Ted says things like "That's future Ted's problem!" followed by a laugh and consumption of alcohol later and later into the night. He is eventually confronted by future Ted, and future future Ted, and maybe even one more Ted. The point is, those other Teds were not impressed. 

I'm sure that if my dad could go back 10, 20, 30 years, he'd tell past Al to put down the burger and fries, skip the cookies, and go for a walk. I know I'd say it to the chubby, shy girl in Middle School who told herself she didn't care if she was fat because that was just who she was. That wasn't who I was. That was who I chose to be because I was too lazy to care about what would happen to future Crystal. 

Well, no more! 

I'm so proud of my mom and dad for making such huge changes in their diets and for sticking with it! It is SO hard, I know. But, as I sit here eating fresh melon as a snack instead of candy or cookies, I think future me is going to be just a little less annoyed with who I chose to be today.

Also, today I turned 31.