And in the beginning......

So here it is my first official blog. I am a wife, mother and friend. I have one very handsome and charming son as well as one very handsome and charming husband. I feel very fortunate to have a great group of girlfriends that support me through thick and thin. For many years I felt I had to be everything to everyone and never thought that one of the people that I needed to be everything for was myself.

January 29, 2008 I went in and had the Gastric Sleeve procedure performed. To date I have lost 139 pounds. Yeah me!!!! The surgery is only one step to the process of getting the weight off. The other part, and the part that I think is the most important, is figuring out you and what drives you. This is the really hard part!!!!! You have to really open up and examine why you turn to certain behaviors. Why do I reach for food when I get stressed? What does it make me feel like when I do? By eating the food does it actually relieve the stress? I have to be honest and say at times the answer to that last question is 'YES', but does it mean that it is the right place to turn to relieve the stress. Obviously not. There are other coping mechanisms that you can use besides food, you just have to find it. Maybe blogging will be my new stress reliever. At one time in my life it was playing the piano. I'm wondering if I should get another piano. I can only ever play for myself, because I will never be good enough to play for anyone else. I barely made it through my piano recitals. (very big grin) I definitely haven't found all the answers yet, I'm still on my journey.

I've decided that sharing this blog with you it will help me discover me and help me learn how to be everything to me by sharing my thoughts and seeing them in print. (I have discovered it makes it more real for me). I hope to share my ups and downs and my joy as a mother, wife and friend. So welcome to my blog and I hope you stop back often to visit and find out what is going on.