In which I find the bookend

As I've posted before, I rejoined Weight Watchers last September when my eldest two children returned to school.

Forty weeks later, school is over and everything that hasn't gone home goes home as the classroom is stripped and cleaned.

Sorting through my son's backpack I found the above picture. It hung with all the other family pictures on the classroom bulletin board. I remember the day well, it was open house, Sept. 11, four days after I rejoined WW. My first weigh in was 3 days away.

It's actually not a terrible picture of me, although I did employ the tried and true camouflage-your-body-with-your-child move. I remember walking up the stairs (his class was on the second floor, 2 flights up) wondering how I was going to survive the climb twice a week while carrying my youngest.

And I'm wearing what used to be my standard uniform: grey Just My Size 3x T-shirt from Wal-Mart and XXL track pants from Target. Incidentally I saved that shirt and pants. That's a post for another day.

A couple of weeks before school ended we had the kids' portraits taken at a local 18th century farm. At the end of the shoot, the photographer told me to get in with the kids for a picture.

I didn't know it was coming or else I would have looked a lot better - at least showered that day.

The first thing I think of when I compare the two photos is, Wow, look how the kids have grown.

The second, Look how much I have.

We all learned a lot this year.