A brief setback for the emotional eater

     I was eager to head out last night and work out. It had been quite a stressful day, as I went to Wenatchee for Rick's surgery, and we left at 5 a.m. Long, stressful day. Well, it did not end there.
     I exercised all right, but not in the way I had hoped. We had dropped off our new puppy, a 2-month-old cream-colored Chihuahua to have him doggysat, as we did not want to leave him alone in the house all day in his carrier.
     Well, somehow he ended up missing. So, we spent our night searching in the rain near Omak High School. After spending more than a couple of hours trooping around and looking under everything, we finally went home.
     But I was unable to sleep, so Jordan and I went back down and searched for another hour. The rain stopped, and I hoped to hear his cries. Nothing.
     I returned home heartbroken. When I finally stopped crying, I realized how hungry I was. I had not eaten dinner yet, and as I was heading to the kitchen, I wanted to eat everything and anything.
     WOW! I am an emotional eater. I did eat an ice cream sandwich, sweetened with Splenda, only 110 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. OK, I admit it, I did eat two. And, I have already had one this morning.
     They do make me feel better. Why? Why does food comfort us?
     I know this sounds silly, but I am proud of myself because I could have, and normally would have, eaten a giant bowl of ice cream or maybe even most of the half gallon straight out of the container or the entire box of ice cream sandwiches. These are the little successes, right?
     Although we still don't have our puppy home, I am hopeful. We did head out this morning at first light and searched the neighborhood again, but with no luck.
     I was touched by a stranger who lives in our doggysitter's neighborhood who went out searching with us this morning. His generosity inspires me and makes me hold onto the possibility that if someone found our little Turbo, they will call us.
     I learned a hard lesson last night, too. I am an emotional eater.
     I need to have alternatives there. I know if I would not have had those sugar-free ice cream sandwiches on hand, I definitely would have eaten something far worse and probably in greater quantities.
     As much as I want to crawl back into bed right now, I will go work out today. I promise myself.
* * *
     Good news!
     After hiking around the neighborhood in the morning and again late this afternoon, I went to run some errands, and we received a call that our lost puppy was being returned! So, after getting him back, I went around and tried to find many of the signs the doggysitter and I had posted.
     I must admit, I did not exercise like I promised, but I definitely added some miles to my tennis shoes during the past 24 hours.
     I was just so relieved to have the little guy home, and I did not want to leave him. I know, any excuse to skip the gym, right? I did, however, eat really well today!