At the End of the Day

by Ginger Costen

The television ads show people playing in swimming pools or grilling on the new super fancy barbecue. Kids splash in the lake as family and friends drive up in their new cars or campers. “Don’t miss the first big weekend of summer,” Toyota says as the red white and blue flags wave in the background and the fancy sports car zips around a curve along the coastal highway of Maine.

by Ginger Costen

I didn’t go easy into this entire recycling concept as it seemed liked it was just one more task among many that sounded great and doable at the time, but would eventually end up being my responsibility. Like when the kids were younger and begged me for a hamster (or kitten, dog, etc.), pleading with promises to “clean the cage every day” and “we’ll make sure he has fresh food and water before we go to school.” 

by Ginger Costen

Comedians have told jokes about it and Pete Seeger even put it to music when he recorded the anonymously written poem, My Get-Up-And-Go Has Got Up and Went.  But surprisingly, it wasn’t until I was doing research for this column that I learned it was none other than Benjamin Franklin that is actually credited with making the statement, “I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.”

by Ginger Costen

As a journalist, my first obligation is to present our readers with reliable and accurate facts written in a meaningful context. This “journalistic truth” is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts.

by Ginger Costen

I guess it was inevitable, but who would have thought that the owner of a store established on the very premise of offering a “healthier, less fattening food” would be the first person to rain on my weight loss parade?

Eight weeks since surgery… 29 months since starting the Bariatric weight loss program… and the first Thanksgiving / Christmas season in twenty years that I haven’t gained weight. In fact, I’ve lost a total of 92 pounds since starting the program. No it hasn’t been easy – but it’s been worth every minute because I have more energy now than I’ve ever thought would be possible for me at the age of 63.

Three years ago I took the first step towards having Gastric Bypass surgery; on October 29th I had that operation.

The surgery lasted a little over five hours and when I woke up in the recovery room I was sure I’d been hit six times in my abdomen by a Plymouth hood ornament. For the first 24 hours I kept asking myself, “What have you done?” But as the anesthesia wore off and the pain meds took the edge off the procedure, I felt confident that the right choice had been made and the next steps to a healthy new me were just beginning.