Well, this is my first crack at this blogging thing...I really don't know where to start...I suppose I could start at birth..but that is boring...so I will start somewhere between then and now...

I am the oldest of 3 girls...and I am very protective of them...we don't always get along but I try to do my best to keep us all together...it can be a challenge but I still try...

My 2 sisters are married and have children...I have 5 nephews and nieces...I sometimes feel left out because I never married or had children...but there must be another purpose in God's plan...just trying to follow my path...

I have always been a heavy girl and I thought that was the reason I never married..but who knows...I lost many very important people in my life....my beloved David...who taught me to be tolerant...my sweetheart Marc..who taught me to laugh and tell the nay sayers to F off!!...my Aunt Josephine who taught me to be patient...and my mother who taught me everything....through all those heartaches I ate...and especially after my mom past away I ate the most...I gained a lot of weight on top of the weight I already had!!! IMAGINE THAT! As the years past more weight seemed to find me...and not being a spring chicken anymore the weight was affecting my day to day life...high blood pressure...pains in my ankles, feet and knees...not being able to walk a short distance without without having trouble breathing and going

up and down stairs was getting to be very difficult...

I tried EVERYTHING...and I do mean everything...I worked with my doctor and nothing ever worked for a long period of time...

I then began to struggle with a decision...a new idea...the solution?...I discussed it with my doctor and he told me to do research and we would talk about it again in a year...well that was 18 months ago and this past Christmas...at my sister's house...after Christmas Eve dinner..a strange conversation began...almost like an intervention...people present...my sister, my 2 great nephews and my adopted nephew...I really don't know how it started but we were soon talking about me and my weight and how they were all very worried about me...I really didn't think anyone spent time worrying about me..but they were...they told me that they wanted me around for a long time and wished I could do something about my ever increasing weight...it was that night that I decided to go ahead and take that leap of faith...

After the holidays I made an appointment for my free consultation at Brand Surgical and discuss my lap band surgery! I was a good candidate and I made the appointment for January 22, 2009...a date I now refer to as my "rebirth" day!