Prior to my surgery, my friends and I wondered how life would change. My best friend, at almost the same time I made my decision to have the surgery, started her own journey to become a Jazzercise instructor. This girl is my best friend and the best friend I have ever had. In my heart, she is my sister. We are routine girls and planners. Our weekday schedule was almost always the same and weekends were left to plan fun things. When she told me she was going to become a Jazzercise instructor, instead of feeling excited for her as I should have, I was selfish and full of dread that our lives would change. I knew that this committment of hers would many times come before me and that made me sad.

A few weeks later, I told her about my decision to have LB. I think she went through many of the same emotions that I had with the additional ones of not knowing anything about LB and with that comes fear. Luckily, we had this conversation in November and my surgery wasn't until January. By the time I had my surgery, she was well on her way with her plans to become an instructor with my full support and I was full of knowledge of band life which I shared with her.

Here we are in April, I'm banded and living life and she is a real-life certified Jazzercise instructor. There have been a couple of times that she has been unable to do things because she has to teach, like last night for our monthly girls dinner. But that's okay. I know that she would have loved to have been there, but she couldn't. And she knows that next month, we will all be right here when she comes back.

One of the big worries that my friends had was that so much of my world revolved around food. How was I going to be happy with this new life? I completely understood their fears, but I knew I could only address them through time and experience. For instance, six of us have a monthly dinner group that I started in October 2004. Out of the 67 months since then, I think we have only missed about 5 or 6 months. Last night was one of those dinners. I definitely didn't eat what I would have normally eaten, either in the selection or in the quantity, but I had a wonderful time! Plus, I'm learning to try new things! Last night, I had some sort of cheese concoction with tortilla chips as an appetizer. It certainly wasn't lo-cal, but it was delicious! And I only ate about 1/2 what I normally would have. I had tamales for my main course and (of course) only ate about three bites before I was full. Now I have a yummy dinner to go home to tonight!

Today, my friends are going to lunch and my boss is picking up the tab. I am not going because I committed to work out today. A friend of mine that works in the building has expressed interest in working out and I'm trying to help her. I know that I could have told her that I have plans today and she would have been thrilled! Ha! But I also know that sometimes you need (and crave) a little accountability. So, even though I've done my two work out lunches this week, I will do another one today. I'm said that I'm missing lunch with my friends. BUT, we have an outing tomorrow and will be able to hang out together all day. AND, we have lunch with a former co-worker on Friday. Skipping one lunch in the grand scheme of things is not that big of a deal, but I can't tell you what a big accomplishment it is for me to do.

So in the end, my friend and I were worried about our lives changing. We were right that they would change, but we shouldn't have worried. We care about each other and will always make time for each other. It was just time to fit in some time for ourselves too.

P.S. She is an AWESOME Jazzercise instructor.

Sounds like both your lives are changing for the better, keep it up!