I felt randy and restless. I wanted to sit on the beach with the my feet in the sand and my eyes turned upward toward the stars. Had I been with M, it would have been the epitome of a perfect, romantic evening.

Instead, being that it was 9:30, I ate leftover Chinese food, poured myself a glass of wine, then took a hot anise-scented bath before hitting the sack. The little things in life really do make a difference.

M and I had a conversation a few nights ago about which year we considered our best. I told him I consider my 30th year to be best, even though it's not even half over. This is because everything has just recently fallen into place: my health, my finances, my fitness, my job, and my personal life. I feel smarter, sexier, wittier, and less likely to put up with things that bring me down. I'm also more honest with myself and others. And I know life is just going to get better.

Health is everything, in case you were wondering. It really is. I know, firsthand, the frustration, pain, and mental anguish of being sick often. I have childhood memories of feeling "foggy headed" and fatigued. I picked up every viral and bacterial infection that came around. Once I was in high school, I pored over medical encylopedias when I was home from school sick. I wanted to become a doctor so that I could find the root cause of my health problems. None of the doctors I saw seemed concerned about my faulty immune system. I was angry and confused.

I had scarlet fever when I was 3, pneumonia when I was 11. I developed migraines when I was 14. I was diagnosed with colitis/irritable bowel syndrome when I was 23. In high school and college I got tonsillitis, strep throat, sinus infections, and bronchitis several times a year. (By sheer miracle, one day when I was 19 I saw a substitute doctor for some problem or other who said my tonsills were the largest he'd ever seen. He scheduled me for a tonsillectomy the following week. I haven't had tonsillitis or strep throat since.) In my mid-to late- 20s I started getting bladder infections and yeast infections in addition to everything else. Within the past two years I had become ultra-sensitive to my contact lenses, i.e. where pus would come out of my eyes 10 minutes after taking them out at night. Contacts were painful to wear every single day. And the environmental allergies; they were killing me.

It's a wonder I made it to age 30. If it weren't for modern medicine, I wouldn't be here today.

Now, in 2001, every health woe has magically disappeared. I attribute it to several things:

1) I drastically changed my diet in November 1999. Before then, I used to subsist on pasta and rice and wondered why I was gaining weight while exercising like a maniac. Now I no longer eat starchy, sugary "empty" foods. I eat protein in the form of eggs, cheese, poultry, pork, or beef and lots of green, leafy vegetables. I've dropped a few body fat percentages, too. I'm now consist of 23% body fat, which is on the low end of the scale for women.

2) I also had some NAET work done last year. NAET stands for "Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique". This technique was developed in India by, who else, Dr. Nambudripad. It works! This is the first spring in my entire life that I haven't suffered from severe allergies. And you know what? It feels incredible!

3) I had laser eye surgery last November. That means no more painful eyes! No more puss! Every day I'm completely amazed by how well I can see, how crystal clear eveything is.

So there you have it. Health is everything. Don't take it for granted.

If you don't have health, you don't have nothin'.

Cheerio! Have a great weekend and a fantastic Cinco de Mayo. I'll be drinking margaritas.

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*This happens only a couple times a year, possibly even 3 times. It's when the weather is absolutely perfect: fogless and warm... and stays warmer than 65 degrees F even at night. It's a rare thing.