Aunt Sue: About Genevieve

I lost 2.6 pounds at my first Weight Watchers weigh-in on Friday. And that was good. I was happy to have gotten off to a good start. And then I got on the road to visit Genevieve for her 16th birthday party. Her father is a great cook and the birthday dinner was pretty healthy - lobster, mussels, clams, spinach salad. Then there was the cake, of course. But you have to have cake on a birthday and we didn't eat big pieces.

I just wanted to say something about my niece, about how proud I am of the interesting person she has become. She's a colorful character who loves bright colors and animals. She's a good writer and an excellent cook. She's smart and pretty. Even if she didn't lose an ounce towards our goal of 100 pounds, she's pretty terrific just the way she is now.

And as for me, I'm on the road to becoming an old babe. A middle-aged babe if I stop wasting time.

Aunt Sue: Happy Easter!

Well, I bit the bullet and signed up for Weight Watchers on Friday. I didn't actually start the program until today because of my perverse need to bid farewell to my favorite foods. Even though I'm not actually bidding them farewell. Even though I've bid them farewell a thousand times before.

There are two WW leaders at this particular center - Fran on Fridays and Melvin on Saturdays - who I've met before and really like. They're eccentric and not in the least perky. I'll look forward to seeing them, so that's good.

I love Easter and this time of year in general. It's such a time of rebirth that it's encouraging. I told my nephew this weekend that I'm starting yet another weight-loss plan. I asked him if he's tired of hearing me talk about this. And he said that he's happy to hear that I'm not giving up.

I also bought a fancy new pair of sneakers that will enable me to walk on my sore Achilles tendon. And I planted some flowers in my front yard. So this has been a good Easter.