About a year ago, I woke up one morning after shortly after having a perm put in my hair, looked in the mirror -- no make-up -- and shrieked, "OH MY GOD!  I LOOK LIKE MY AUNT!!!"  
As a child, this particular aunt (who is not looked upon very fondly by any of the nieces, nephews, etc.) would continuously tell me how I was going to grow up to look like her.  For some people, looking like an aunt may not be a bad thing.  For me, it would be the worst curse she could invoke upon me.  Throughout my childhood, she was a very heavy woman.  As she got older, she developed diabetes, began her diabetic dieting and exercise and has dropped a tremendous amount of weight.  She is still overweight, just not morbidly obese.  As a child, I was very athletic.  Every year, I and one of my brothers were on the swim team, every winter we took training classes at the YMCA, I was on volleyball, track, etc. 
Then, I became an adult.........life took over.  Everything else was more important than exercise or diet, like being pregnant, having 4 children in 4 years.   Lots of baby fat to lose!  Of course, like every other young adult in their 20's, I tried all the fad diets.  Starvation diets resulted in binge eating with the lack of time and ability to exercise properly.  Stuck in a home of four babies, and absentee husband, I had no resources to take the time to exercise right.  My metabolism was utterly destroyed.
Throughout the years, I have attempted many methods of weight loss, which were all temporary fixes with the long-term affect being that of more weight gain instead.  Now, nearly 40 years old, I have virtually NO metabolism left.  I have developed osteoarthritis in my knees, making any effective exercise almost impossible.  My cholesterol is high, my blood sugar is high and I am morbidly obese.  I am a walking time bomb.
Having my four children so young, I had promised myself that I would be OK.  I could start my life, when I was finished raising them, that I would still be young enough to enjoy a full life.  Now, with only my two babies left, seniors in high school, I am facing a pretty bleak outlook unless I can do something drastic.
The morning I looked in the mirror and saw my aunt was the morning I realized I am running out of time.  I'm middle aged, ready to begin my life and I have effectively shortened "my turn".  AND I LOOK LIKE MY NASTY AUNT!!!!  How dreadful!  I began evaluating my life.  Uh oh, what do I do?  Just a couple of weeks later, I had dropped my glasses behind my headboard of my bed.  Reaching between the wall and the headboard, I got stuck. OK, this time, I'm MAD!  This is just ridiculous!  I knew I was having problems, but for goodness sake, I can't even do something as simple as this!  That day, I began research.
Within that same time frame, I had met a knew real estate client that very openly told me that she had had weight loss surgery 18 months prior.  At the time that she had told me this, I more or less shook my head politely and said "that's interesting, you look great".  But this day, her words (and the image of her very slim body) came flooding back.  So, I vowed, the next time I talked to her, I would ask some questions.
Well, the next thing I know, I'm introduced to a woman that needed a website built for her business.  Throughout the initial process of that transaction, she informed me that she was a recent weight loss surgery patient and proudly showed me her before pics.  Alright, by this time, I'm sensing that maybe the man upstairs is trying to tell me something.  Soon, I had met a hairdresser, a trucking business owner, the father of an employee at the real estate firm, and more.  The more I researched, the more people I met that were successful.
Throughout this time, I still had the fears that most people had, somebody knew somebody that knew somebody that died from the surgery.  Jennifer, the first one I met, encouraged me to look things up, attend a seminar and educate myself.  That's where I really learned what it was all about.  As in real estate, educating yourself is what it is all about.  I learned that through laparoscopy, I can have the surgery with so much less risk than an open incision.  I also learned why none of the diets and exercise attempts never worked.  I also learned that I can do this, I really can do this......and I will on November 1, 2006.

Stay tuned for updates!!