I am 36 years old, married to a wonderful man for 15 years, and we have 4 children.  We have 3 boys, ages 14, 3, and 10 months.  We have one princess, age 12.  My husband is retired from the NAVY and works as a warehouse manager.  I work as an accounting clerk.  We are pretty involved at our church.  Between the kids, work, and church we are always busy.  We love to hang out at the pool and the beach, work in the yard, or if it is cold out, lay around and watch movies.  I recently lost my best friend to cancer.  We both talked about having WLS but 7 years ago she got sick with colon cancer and I still wanted more babies, so at that point, it was just a dream.  Two babies later and now she has passed, so I decided it was time to make it happen.  The last straw was a few months ago when we were at Mt. Trashmore with the kids, flying kites.  I walked up to the top and I thought I was going to die!  I told my husband on the way home that I refuse to be the mother who justs sits on the bench and watches the kids play because I am too big to do anything else.  My kids have lots of running and playing years left and I want to be right beside them.  I am pretty active so I could never understand why I have such a hard time losing weight.  I have tried soooo many diets, pills, Curves, nothing seems to work for long. I know I need to take the exercise up a notch because my body is so used to what I do.  When I got pregnant with the last baby, I was about 255. I lost weight the entire time.  Doc said it was ok since the baby was growing and I was overweight to begin with.  When I went in for my 6 week check up, I was down to 214!  I could not believe it.  Since then, I have gained all the way up to 274.  I am currently 270 and trying real hard to lose some on my own.  Hubby and I have been walking.  I have a friend at work who I walk with a few days a week.  He is doing high protein/low carbs and he has lost about 80 lbs.  So he has been helping me with my food choices.  I feel like I have dropped a few more pounds.  I go to see my PCM next week, so we will see. I have not told too many people about the WLS because I just do not want to hear their two cents worth.  I am so ready for the change in my life.  My husband loves me the way I am, but he is happy that I have a chance to be healthier.  I talk to him all the time about the surgery, I want him to be as comfortable as me about it.  We are going to take this journey together.