Skip to main content

Happy Anniversary to Me!

On May 11, 2006, right around this time of day, I was driving home and thinking, "This has got to work. It just has to. Things cannot get any worse. I cannot get any heavier. This.... this is it. I have to make this work."

I had just left the doors of the Greenville SC Weight Watchers center. I was nervous, and yet oddly excited. I had the feeling that I'd just taken my life back. I had no idea what lay five years out -- only the potential that if I didn't do something, then all my friends might be standing around a pine box going, "Why? What happened?"

Everything in the universe clicked together that day and made me say, "This is it. It has to be tonight." I believe very strongly that there are no coincidences. I was meant to be there that night, because fate/God/the universe had me there the same night as Debbie and Bev. Debbie and Bev were two guardian angels with precious golden hearts and nerves of steel, and enough love and care for me and everyone else in the room.

And here I am. That night, I would not have believed you if you had told me
  • that I could do even one 5K -- let alone the ten I have done in just 3-1/2 years. Why not more? Working on Saturday mornings (prime race time). Oh well! I do the ones I can!
  • that I would become deeply interested in food, in nutrition, in physiology, in so many other things that it takes to work to become truly whole.
  • that I would decide that part of my mission in life is to educate and advocate, and not just about health and wellness.
Even more than all that, what I have learned is how not to settle. I found my voice -- not just to share my story, but I really did find my physical voice again. I found my hipbones as well as my backbone. I found life in the most unexpected ways.

Happy Five .... of many!

Comments

Angie A said…
<3 you keep doing your thang :)
Ever so proud of you my dear!
Talmadge said…
What can I say that doesn't sound hokey and trite?

Just this: I'm in sober awe of you. Simple as that.

Popular posts from this blog

At the risk of sounding like a Spanish soccer announcer,

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!! It took 3 years and 3 weeks, but I am finally 44% of the woman I was on May 11, 2006. When I started the journey, this day was not even in sight. All I could honestly think about was how to take those first steps to get through the first day and the first week. I had no idea how I was supposed to do 5 minutes a day of activity, when it took all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. But if nothing else, once I make up my mind to do something.......... Here it is, June 4, 2009. I am 228 pounds lighter and a quadrillion times better. I made it through that first day, that first week just fine. I did the 5 minutes -- okay, really 10 minutes, all huffing and puffing and barely able to walk out two blocks and back. Then 20, then 30, and joined the Y, and ..... got the dog and had to walk him. Then said, "I can do a 5K." And then watched my race time improve each time I tried. In losing 228 pounds, I have gained so much. I wasn't e...

Coming Around Again

Okay, accountability time again ....... As a lot of you know, in what feels like a lifetime ago, I lost a whole kindergarten class’s weight and did it fairly quickly (3 years). It was a struggle to maintain but I managed to “only” gain back about 40 of that original 230 I lost. Then foot surgery happened and I was just learning to walk pain-free (forget 5Ks). I put on a few more but still not a lot. When mama died, the bottom dropped out and I’ve been free-falling since. And the Quarantine 14 was part of that too. So it’s past time to get back on track. This time while it’s not just the physical side of things, it’s the mental side of it too. I’ll be honest: my anxiety has gotten worse since Richard died. There have been nights I have been too scared to sleep lying down because my head pipes up, “you know, what if you die lying down?” I’ve been pretty dang determined that if it’s in my power, my daddy will not have to bury both his kids from their own stupidity. So yeah. There ya go. M...

So far, so good....

So here I am, 11 days into January, and feeling a bit better....... Christmas Eve was an eye-opening experience, and so was New Year's Eve. I stepped up on the scale to see the damage from the holidays -- and it was staring back at me in massive boldface, 72-point type, yelling, "NOW. You have to do something NOW." My weight was definitely up, but BOY I didn't think it would be that high..... the highest it had been in almost 3 years, which was right around the same time all my health issues came roaring up. Even though it wasn't an official weigh-in, I looked at where I was on 12/31/13 and where I was on 12/31/14 -- a 25-pound gain. YOWZA. Twenty-five pounds? That was it. I was done. Done, done, done. Tired of feeling tired. Tired of feeling lousy. Tired of feeling sorry for myself for whatever reason. Ready to get moving again in the other direction. Ready to feel like myself again. Sure, I'm going to have to deal with the medical things, but so be it. ...