One of my oldest and dearest friends has had a struggle with weight as much as I have. He and I have dieted together, joined a gym together and have spent years going up and down in weight. In fact, we are so much in sync that one year for Christmas we gave each other the EXACT SAME GIFT! We had both been down on ourselves for being heavy and had discussed trying yet another weight loss attempt. So when Christmas came around we both wanted to motivate the other. We had a photo of ourselves taken when we were both close to our ideal weights. We were probably around 21 or 22 and it was one of our mutual "skinny" periods. In our attempts to motivate,we both had the same photo enlarged and framed for the other person! It caused us to laugh so hard we must have lost a pound or two over just that..LOL Anyway, as the years have gone on we are not in touch as much as I wish we could be. He has his life with his partner, they own an apartment building together plus he works long hours at his day job. I am busy with the life of a single mom; working full time, taking care of a home and raising my daughter. While we no longer have as much in common, we still have a deep love of friendship for one another. So when I decided I knew what path I was taking I called him up to talk about it. He had long been my weight loss ( and sadly gain) buddy and I wanted to share with him. Actually I spoke with him early in the year about it, back in March when I first was thinking about it. At that time he said he was trying Weight Watchers again, but if he failed (again) he would seriously consider surgery. When I called him a few weeks ago to say I was determined to do this, I could hear such depression in his voice. He had failed again and was very upset over it. His mother and his partner both are against him having the surgery, which makes it tough on him. But I have been in his shoes, so to speak, so I have much greater insight on how he feels than they do. I told him I understood their concern, but sometimes you just have to take control to be able to live the life you deserve. Anyway, he and I left the conversation at me promising to stay in touch and him wanting to hear how things proceed. When I went to my seminar a couple weeks after I had posted it on Facebook. He saw it and contacted me. Apparently he too had attended a seminar at another hospital the VERY SAME DAY! His mom and partner went with him and asked all kinds of questions. His mom is now more on board, but his partner is still afraid. But I am so happy he has decided to pursue this, I KNOW it will make his life and health so much better. And here is the kicker...Before, when he had looked into bariatric surgery, he had decided on the Roux-n-Y. But now, after our conversation about it, he is now wanting to get the sleeve! So God willing ( and I pray with all my heart and soul he is) my dear friend and I will travel down one last weight loss path together, then spend the rest of our lives and friendship supporting each other to remain healthy!!!