Cynthia ..
I guess I was lucky, my childhood was a great time. I was never over weight, and was very active in school and church programs. My self confidence soared like eagles... it wasn't until I was 15 or so that things went downhill.I really don't want to "go there" right now.
I married Dan one week after turning 16, in 1979, with blessings from my Dad. I guess it was "to be", we had grown up together, since I was 5 and Dan was 8 years old. Back then, his mom and my dad lived together for 8 years, my sister I spent the summers and holidays at their house, as we lived with our maternal grandparents.
Anyway, when our parents broke up and my dad moved out. Dan and I started "dating", if you call going to the pizza place and movies in the afternoons and with siblings in tow and on VERY strict time lines, "dating" lol.
Anyway we married, and had 2 children. Our daughter was born in 1980 and our son was born 1984.
I weighed 125 when we married, I started gaining weight after the birth of our first child. The weight gain was a combination of stress and being bored. Our daughter was diagnosed with a rare seizure disorder; Sturge-Weber Syndrome, when she was 20 months of age. No one in our families had ever seen a seizure or knew anyone that had had seizures. At that time, there were only 950 known cases of Sturge-Weber Syndrome. That added to the stress, it truly seemed I was alone in dealing on how to care for a very ill child. I soon became very isolated, I didn't "get out" often and having a job was out of the question! No one wanted to care for her, even for an hour, they were afraid of the seizures. Looking back, I totally understand, but at the time I desperately needed help. It just wasn't there. Dan did what he could, but the medical bills were outrageous and he had to work a lot to keep us sheltered.
I soon turned to food for comfort and stress control, rather than smoking or drinking. Food was soon my best friend, always there when others wouldn't or couldn't be, never questioned or doubted me.
I've been obese for nearly 20 years, I'm so looking forward to "looking good" again, feeling good again.
I wanted to find a way to show Dan just how I feel about him, we've been married for 27 years. He's been there through thick and thin, literally! This is for him...
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