Don't recall who sang that song, but I'm singing it now! The other side...hooray! Past the anticipation, past the short lived pain and nausea, past the hospital and the fear and the doubt. Done. Next.

Each day is better than the previous. I am up and around today, although still pampering myself and taking it easy a bit. I am still a little bit sore and cannot wait to sleep on my stomach again. That part has been difficult for me, I have to admit. I am learning about that weird feeling when I swallow. I am amused by the gurgling. I am thinking about success. I am concentrating on it. I am realizing that TV has entirely too much food on it. Every other commercial is about food! And I will need to come to terms with my love of food. That will be the work I will need to do. I always wanted to be Italian because the women go to the markets every morning and come home to create their masterpieces. They take great pride in the fresh ingredients and the love they put into it. This is a balance I will need to learn to achieve. Nothing wrong with good fresh ingredients and some creative, loving inspiration to put to them. I just need to learn to work that to my advantage. There was a time in my life where I cooked everything from scratch. I was so proud of that. Of course, I had every afternoon off and all the time in the world to do it. Yeah, those days are over

I found myself lying in bed this morning thinking ahead...thinking by my birthday this year, I'll be an entirely different person. So many false starts in the past that I never dreamt of thinking ahead. This weight is going to come off. I will be different. I will succeed.

I feel awkwardly courageous at this point. Some will try to take that away from me...say that I took the easy way out. But I will not allow it.