Inspirational quote

I created this little quote with a photo I'd taken of a dragonfly several years ago.

I find these quotes help keep me on the right path.

This sums up my decision to have this surgery.

When the surgeon discussed the options with me, medications versus surgery I dismissed the medication route immediately.  Not only was the idea of turning myself into a human pincushion by injecting the meds for the rest of my life but the cost of doing so.  Most of these medications are not covered by insurance, at least not for weight loss, and can run as high as $1500 a month. When you stop using them, the problems come right back. 

I knew for me the only way this would work would be to remove all options from myself. The best way to do that would be to have the surgery and deal with a tiny stomach for the rest of my life.  That in itself brings along some expense with the cost of the special vitamins and supplements as well as a complete change in my eating habits, but that seemed the lesser evil.

I was born tiny as shown by those skinny legs as a baby. While growing up I just didn't have any interest in eating, life was too much fun and I never wanted to stop running and playing.

I've always been small and it just felt normal to be skinny.  I never gave it much thought, it's  just the way I always was.

I was always below the weight for my age and was mistaken for a child much younger. That worked in my favor for getting into the fair and other events for being "under 12" even though was over 16.

At my graduation I weighed 110 pounds.

This continued into my adult life as well, never weighing over 125 pounds until my mid 50's.

Having had my son at age 19 we were often confused as being brother and sister.

I went right back to 110 pounds after giving birth to him.

This photo shows me washing my friend Lil's hair. I probably weighed about 110 - 115 pounds in those days.  Once we were in the liquor store together and I wandered off to another area and the manager told her she couldn't let her "little boy" run around the store unsupervised like that.  I thought it was funny.  She was insulted that he thought she looked old enough to be my mother.

I earned my black belt at age 42 after four years of training. I had run a marathon the year before this.  I was the most fit I'd ever been in my life at this age and it continued until about age 50-55 or so.  I weighed about 125 pounds at this stage. I'm the one down on my knees, you know how they always put the short ones in the front.  For our demonstrations to the public I used to get to throw around the big guy standing to the right in the back..  It was great fun to be able to toss someone who was 6' tall and weighed 75 pounds more than I weighed.  I was on my way to earning my second degree black belt when things went wonky with my family.  I needed to become my father's guardian because my mother was not able to do so. We later did an intervention on her to control her drinking and she had a massive heart attack while in the hospital.  Lots of stress during those days.

Pete and I practicing our karate moves

So, you can see why I want to get my body back!