Dabliss111114

I come from an all Italian family that loves good food and historically believed that the more you ate the happier you'd be. That being said it's pretty clear that there have been weight issues in my family forever. As a kid I was average and not overweight, but as I reached my teen years starred to get pudgy. My dad was very heavy and always told me to pay attention to my diet or I'd end up like him. So I did, and managed to stay average until after I got married the first time and had two children. It was a constant battle from then on. Gain weight, tryntondiet, loose a little, gain it all back.... So the story went until the tragic death of my eldest son at the age of 14. After that I tried to eat away my grief. About 18 months later , and a lot of counciling I decided I needed to do something, if not for me, then for my younger son who really needed more from his mom. He was only 6 at the time. While being on a medically supervised diet with diet pills I lost about 60 pounds. I then found out that my husband had been cheating since before my sons death. So much for that diet. Fast forward to a nasty divorce and coming out of it broke. So there I was , a single mom nearly making enough money to get by.

I lost my dad when my son was 13. He and my father were very close and he struggled terribly with his passing. I came to learn that because he was bearly 5 when his big brother died he really never processed the lost or went through the whole grieving process. Between that, the divorce and loosing his grandpa he was a very broken kid. It took me a long time to get him back on track. During that time my weight went up and down. When he graduated from high school and went to college I decided that I needed to do something..... Again the doctor supervised diet and yes dating. Not fun. I was very self-conscious about my weight and hated the idea of allowing myself to start havings feelings for anyone.

Finally in 2005 I met my current husband Pete. He is the best thing that has happened to me in many, many years. He loves and accepts me for who I am. He's always been sensitive to my feelings about my weight, and never made me feel anything but beautiful. We were married in March of 2006. My son adores him, and now at age 30 looks to him as his male role model.

Over these past years I've gained weight again, and pete has gained some too. We both agree that we want to be active now that neither of us are working anymore. His two sons have 4 kids between them and right now it's very hard to do things that would be fun because I'm way too heavy, and he has too many issues because of his age (69) and the extra 45 lbs. He now has. The idea to have this surgery was suggested by my primary care doctor. I have developed high blood pressure, high cholesterol, very bad arthritis, and osteopenia.

So here I am. Fortunately I have the love and support of both family members and friends. I have great hopes of being able to be healthy and able to domall the things I've missed over the past 20 years.

I'm now going to enjoy the hunt for all the beautiful vintage COLLECTIBLES and vintage jewelry I sell in my online store on Ruby Lane. It's fun to do, keeps me busy now that I'm retired and is something that Pete like to do with me. We go to estate auctions and sales to find our treasures. It's been a real physical challenge for me, so look forward to being able to do it with ease. If anyone likes vintage Gorky things check out my shop at
www.ruby lane.com/shop/justplainbliss

I also look forward to really enjoying the kids and doing some traveling without stressing over having clothes to wear or fitting into a seat on an airplane.

This is the next chapter in my book of life......