I used to dread holidays @ 500 plus pounds

I guess the best way to describe my old attitude toward holidays and special occasions like birthdays would be "avoidance". I hated it when my wife would pressure me to celebrate.  Celebrate? Celebrate what? 

Celebrate that I had to drag myself out of  my Lazy Boy chair and feel the pain in my arthritic knees as I got the house ready for guests?

And I definitely hated "celebrating" when I would assume that friends and relatives who hadn't seen me in a while would be wondering how I had "let myself go", and were probably taking bets on how much more weight I had gained.

I suppose I could have been a better person by embracing "fat acceptance".  There were times in my life where I went to the shore knowing people would be saying.. "Look! A beached whale!"  I only did that because I wanted to grab some parts of life that I couldn't get back. Taking my kids to the beach was something I couldn't put off doing.  They grow up  too fast.

But there are many other special times that my family and I missed because of my morbid obesity.

Thanks mostly to my weight loss surgery, I'm at a weight were I can fit into just about any seat.. Including stadium seats.

So I spent father's day with my eldest son, daughter and her fiancee (my wife snapped the pic) a Progressive field watching a rain delayed, extra innings ball game.  The Tribe beat the Pirates 2 to 5 with a home run on the last play of the game.
I ate a hot dog (some of the bun) and I didn't have the urge to sneak away and get more food. I enjoyed the company of family.  What a great day!

That is absolutely awesome!!! You have a lot of life to live now, enjoy every minute of it. I am only down 81 lbs and I feel so good, I can only imagine how great you feel. Congratulations!!!!

I can so relate to every word..... Thanks for the post and the picture.
We both now have a life now....not sure what it was before wls, but sure was not living !!!!!!!!
I'm off to do my volunteer work at the nursing home bariatric unit....something I could have never done before. Lov'in Life !!!

 AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! JUST AWESOME.... and what a lovely family you have! Congratulations.

When I read your Blog I thought i could have written it myself...it's true you do drea seeing people that you havent seen in awhile.....and I'm still doing the seat dread but its better I'm down 101 lbs now since 2/24/11 and feeling so much better!   You look terrefic!  Congratulations on your accomplishments and Happy Fathers Day! Take Care! Debbie

Congratulations to you; what a beautiful family.