For 6 years now, our family has lived in a neighborhood that is located down in a valley- the developers call it Meadows. When you give directions to visitors, you tell them to "drive down the valley" past the pool, etc. This middle-class subdivision has all the amenities... pools, the elementary school Perry attends, a park and a playground, a baseball field and even a fishin' hole for those who have the leisure time to actually "fish." One of the other amenities is sidewalks - all around the streets and cul-de-sacs they are - just begging to be walked. And walked they are.

One sidewalk in particular that I must talk about will literally lead you back up from the valley. It's one long sidewalk that goes on and on and on - up a rather large hill.

It is exactly one mile up and one mile down.

For the past 6 years, I have watched many people trek up the hill -- mothers pushing strollers, joggers with iPods, teachers after school, even some children with their parents have marched up that hill. I've watched all these neighbors going up that hill - wondering how they must feel after reaching the top.


I go walking with my friend Karen at least once a week later at night - when the sun starts going down and it has cooled off. I've often talked the talk about going up that hill and tonight I told her "it was time." I think she wanted to talk me out of it, but I was not going to let her. It was going to be tonight or never. And now that I've done it, it really wasn't all that bad. Don't get me wrong - I was totally huffin' and a puffin' when I reached the top, but I did it! The funny thing is that as much as I want to shout it from the rooftops, I'm not going to. If I tell any of my neighbors that I just climbed the hill tonight, they will look at me as if I am a foreigner - I mean everybody has walked the hill. But I had not ever tried it - but now I've done it!

WW Update" -3.2 lbs for a total of 34 lbs.