Hoping for One Shining Moment

One year, one pound, one week.



Those are the milestones I am ready to celebrate today. That sequence of ones has great significance to me at this point in my life. They're all connected, and two of them have already come true. The third is quite a distinct possibility.





First and foremost, the one year part. (warning: some nuptial sappiness is about to occur. If this makes you ill, see a physician, or go shear a sheep). This past Saturday, Megan and I celebrated one year of engagement. Last February, under the guise of having to cover a "really long meeting," I drove through a snowstorm to Megan's parents' house. I showed them the engagement ring I'd just purchased, got their blessing, and drove home in a very good mood.





A couple days later, Megan came home from work to find a trail of small presents leading her upstairs, where I was waiting. Some of you might be asking, why didn't he just propose on Valentine's Day? For one, my tax refund didn't come til the week after. Besides, now we have a much better day to celebrate than when Russell Stover first covered a walnut with chocolate, stuck it in a heart-shaped box, then jacked up the price. Anyway, back to the proposal. She came upstairs, where I was wearing a shirt and tie (quick note: if I'm wearing a necktie, something important is happening. Either that, or it has Muppets on it and I just felt like displaying Fozzie). I proposed, she said yes, and here we are, one happy year later.





Now the wedding is quickly approaching. I would never have taken up this weight loss challenge if it weren't for her. She loves me for who I am, and I feel the same way about her. But there is the little matter of the wedding photos, and for as beautiful a bride she is going to be, I want to be pretty proud of those pictures too. Thank you, Megan, for a great year. Here's to many more...





Now that the sap session is complete, onward to the one pound part. That's the rounded total to how much weight I have left to lose before I hit the magic 60. One freakin' pound. Oh, hell yes. In about six months, I've lost 59 pounds.



Here are some things that weigh about 59 pounds: several bowling balls, a second-grader, a bunch of really big candy bars, a golden retriever, a Leprechaun, Barry Bonds' head, and six house cats, depending on how corpulent the cat.





Technically, it's 58.8 pounds, but you get the drift. I'm oh so close now to reaching that arbitrary number, and the results are looking pretty fantastic. Over the weekend, I bought a pair of jeans with a 36 waist. The last time I did that, I was in 8th grade, and they were still tight. Comparatively speaking, one year ago, I was wearing 40s and 42s. They're mostly gone now, so don't expect the Jared pants photo any time soon, but there's still plenty of reason to rejoice.





And now onto one week. In addition to being a fantastic Barenaked Ladies song that doubles as a karaoke super-challenge, one week is when I hope to achieve the 60-pound mark. I guess at this point, the one week is really four days. Four hard workouts, eating right, and quite conceivably, I will have hit my mark. I've already decided to attempt to go further than 60, but the milestone I originally hoped for is within reach.





Doug, the JI's Web site guru, asked me a few weeks ago what that day would be like. My response" It would be my "One Shining Moment." Men's college hoops fans know exactly what I'm getting at here. At the end of the NCAA tournament, CBS puts together a montage of the whole championship, from the opening rounds to the Final Four. At the end of it, the champions are seen celebrating, with their final game footage already edited into the montage, and the team stops their post-game festivities to watch the video.





Through it all, an incredibly cheesy, strangely inspirational song called "One Shining Moment" plays, most recently sung by the late Luther Vandross. I love that song. I loved it the first time UConn got the final edit in 1999. I loved it even more in 2004, when I was not only a happy fan once again, but now a UConn student and member of the women's team pep band. I'll watch the "One Shining Moment" montage every year, regardless of who wins the tournament (Duke may be the only exception. I hate Duke).





So come Thursday, I'm hoping for my own cheesy Luther Vandross moment. And, hopefully, I won't be satisfied to only hear it once.





The penultimate STATS? We'll see....





Weeks until wedding: 23. Oh, so close.

Pounds lost in Week 26: 2.0

Total weight lost: 58.8 lbs

Percentage toward 60-pound goal: 98.

Weight left to lose before hitting (initial) goal: 1.2 lbs.

Percent of total weight lost: more than 20. And for that, I got more Weight Watchers bling.

Years UConn went to Final Four: 1999, 2004, 2009

Other teams I don't care for, besides Duke: Pitt, Syracuse, Texas, Oklahoma, Rutgers

UConn's Bubble Status, according to ESPN: outside looking in. Come on, Huskies!

My All-time Huskies lineup: G Ray Allen, G Doron Sheffer, C Emeka Okafor, F Rip Hamilton, F Nadav Henefeld.

Bench: F Cliff Robinson, F Donyell Marshall, F Caron Butler, G Ben Gordon, G Chris Smith, G Khalid El-Amin, C Hasheem Thabeet