I’m as corny as Kansas in August (insert favorite upbeat lyrics here)

I like to imagine that in happy, healthy families the children grow up to expect and focus on the positive. “Don’t you ever think things might turn out OK?” asked a heartfriend soon after getting to know me. Why, no, it’s not in my DNA. I grew up waiting for the other, much scarier, shoe to drop.

In that same vein, when trying to manage my “food issues,” I have focused for, oh, decades on what I can’t have. Not that I can share a perfect creme brulee with two others but that I can’t gobble the whole thing by myself. This is silly, worst of glass-half-empty thinking.

When I take a breath, slow down and share that beautiful dessert with Stoic and Dora, I get to enjoy part of it, which is fabulous. It’s not that I can’t (or won’t) have two glasses of wine with dinner — I can have one glass of a really smart red.

I can make healthy choices, and they can make me feel really good with (about) myself. Today, for instance, I wound up at the Y an hour before my deep water fitness class. I promised myself if I did water exercises for 40 minutes and then the class, I’d go to Panera Bread and order their new soba noodle bowl with chicken. So worth the 390 calories.

Like so much else in life, I think eating well is mostly between our ears. Five months after hip replacement, I may not be able to run up and down stairs yet, but I climbed out of the pool today (three times) using the ladder, something I haven’t done in forever! Yay, and the rest will come.

I weeded Monday and Tuesday afternoons for the first time since last summer. Can I focus on that and not all the weeds that have grown in a year?

I’m convinced that much of eating too much is feeling too blue. We feel empty inside and binge to fill the emptiness.

Is it possible to consciously change my focus from the negative, to accentuate the positive and not mess with Mr. In-Between? Shouldn’t be any more difficult than going to bed at 9:30 tonight.