I'm doomed to have a bad passport picture..aka Wednesday Weigh In

It is hard for me to believe that it has been just about 10 years since I was getting reading to move back to Germany and study in Berlin.  The time has come for me to do something I've been waiting 10 years for:

Get a new passport.


I have bad luck with passport pictures.  My first passport I was only 15 years old, but I looked like I smoked a ton of doobie prior to going in to the post office..  Luckily I only had to carry that passport around for five years.   My second passport picture came after a stupid idea of perming my hair, realizing that wasn't a good idea, so I cut my hair extremely short.  Horrific hair,  AND I was going through a glasses wearing phase.

I went, paid for the picture, took it and then... I looked like this:

-*

Rabid Badger picture courtesy of: http://crossfitsparta.com/2012/11/01/badger-4/

Okay, maybe it wasn't THAT bad.  It was pretty damn close though.  I remember getting the picture and staring at it in horror.  As a college student about to study abroad in Europe, I was trying to save my money for fun things.  Like spontaneous trips to Oktoberfest and things like that.

Not wanting to waste the money on a new set of photos,  I tried to convince myself that the photo really wasn't that bad and mailed in my passport renewal form.  Two months later I got it back and it really was that bad.  *Sigh*  I vowed never to willing show the passport to anyone.

I know you think I am being ridiculous.  It really cannot have been that bad of a picture.

It was.

You know how most border guards have absolutely no sense of humor (yes, even you my dear bro-in-law ;-))?

Well, Eastern European border guards are even less amusing.  On my way through the Czech Republic (prior to their joining of the EU), not one but TWO border guards laughed at my picture.  Going through customs?  Smirks and snide comments about how that picture MUST be me, because who would want to fake that!

So today I went and got a new picture for my 10 year renewal passport.  

I was very excited.  I thought about how different my life is from the way it was 10 years ago.  I've been all over Europe, I graduated college, I began teaching.  I've taken kids overseas several times!  I've lived in 4 states and two countries.  I got married.  What an amazing ten years!

Then I got my picture.  *sigh*  Not as bad as a rabid badger, but nothing to get excited about.

Then a new thought came to me.  See, today was my weekly weigh in.  My last one for the month.  My first month completed.

An I lost 3 more pounds, bring my total weight loss for the month of January to 10 pounds.

10 freaking pounds gone.  My pants are falling off. Literally.

I realized, this picture represents what will soon be the old me.  The girl who couldn't lose weight.  The 31-year-old woman with the same health issues as a 62 year old.  The picture people will look at and say NO WAY!

A reminder to the healthy, happy, fit woman of how hard she worked to get there.

Bring on the next 10 years!