Merry Meet,

My name is Tracy nickname Gretchen Noel and I am a very spritual pagan. I am 37 years old and the daughter of a Southern Baptist Minister. I live in a different state and my parents, though they know I'm different, do not know of my spiritual beliefs. I have been kitchen/nature witch since I was 25 and do not follow any certain path in particular, but gather differnt things from all faiths and make them my own. I and my husband, for the most part, are solitary (he follows the budda yogi path) but we do have a small 'family' that gathers 8 times a year for holidays.

I think all of our prayers,energies and spells all go to the same place and that no one religion or denomination is the 'correct' one, just that it takes different things for different people and situations.

I am being banded on Tuesday Feb 27th and I am both excited and anxious. I was a size 12 in jr. high and a size 14-18 through high school. I went through a date rape situation when I was 19 and ballooned up to 240. I have been over 200 since I was 19, over 250 for about 12 yrs and over 300 for about 6 years.

I 1st attempted to have this very procedure four years ago but I had health spring and was denied without any hope of an appeal. Last year my company started offering BCBS along with health spring. I didn't change anything, then I found out last fall that there were 6 other people in the company that had switched to BCBS and sucessfully had the procedure SO, I switched this year and as you will see in my signature.. was approved!:clap2:

I am so excited about what lays ahead for myself and my husband. I LOVE to be outdoors and being my size is REALLY a hinderance.

I look forward to hearing from others of alternative faiths or, No faith in particular.

I have created a poll, thought it would be fun. I know there is NO WAY I have remembered all of the different paths so if yours isn't listed..VERY SORRY. Example.. right after I created the poll, I realised I left of NORSE. ANYwho, I'll add it if you ask me to assuming I can figure out how to make changes to the poll. I'm kind of technically challenged.

Blessed Be,

Tracy/Gretchen Noel

Merry Meet Tracy!

I am Melissa. I'm 32 years old and am Pagan. My husband Randy is Asatru (follows the Norse pantheon)

I do have a very spiritual lifestyle and my beliefs help me every day!

I last weighed in the 160's in high school (was overweight then as well, but nothing like today)

I had a similar experience to you Tracy. I was raped by a cousin when I was 14, and over the years since had ballooned from the 160's up to my all time high on 9/8 of 317 lbs.

I will be banded on 3/21 and I can not wait to begin my new life as a Bandster!

MM!

I am deb aka demmemoon and an a neo-pagan polythiest kitchen witch. Got all that?

I am a married mom of 2 boys (5 & 8) whom I am raising to walk the pagan path. They will be free to choose what religion/spirituality they want for themselves but I want them to be open-minded and caring of all things. My husband is an aethiest (who is vice-principal of a catholic high school )

By trade I am a soapmaker and aromatherapist. You can kind of get an idea what I do at www.tubtopia.com I am also working on creating signature perfumes using all natural oils. Essential oils and herbs are my passion.

Anyway, glad to see this thread here!

BB.

demmemoon

Glad to see this thread here too! Hopefully we won't be kicked out of the March thread because we have beliefs different from others

Glad to see this thread here too! Hopefully we won't be kicked out of the March thread because we have beliefs different from others

Don't worry about it. WE did what we needed and created our own space. If it weren';t for that thread and mentioning it.. we wouldn't have been able to join together.

It's such a sensetive subject and I really don't like to bring attention to it. I do realize that by starting this thread, I may be losing the support of a few others because of the differences but that's ok, there will be more out there that realize it's ok to be different.

neat thread!

i'm an athetist. i was actually kicked out of sunday school at 7 years old because they didn't like what i was asking. after that i went to every church service i could find until i was 10 years old trying to find answers... but all i found were more questions. i went to catholic services (beautiful), luthern, baptist (crazzzzzzy), even to synagog. after that i knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it was all crap. my mom completely accepted my decision and i never looked back. in my teens i loved runes and tarot, but couldn't get into the whole goddess thing. i respect wiccans/pagans/etc so incredibly much! now i just exsist. i try to be a good person because i choose to. i accept responsibility for my actions and don't use any excuses when i am weak or do something not quite right. when something good happens to me, i know it's because of the good i put out. i guess i believe in karma and the 3-fold rule.

weee.

MM!

I am deb aka demmemoon and an a neo-pagan polythiest kitchen witch. Got all that?

I am a married mom of 2 boys (5 & 8) whom I am raising to walk the pagan path. They will be free to choose what religion/spirituality they want for themselves but I want them to be open-minded and caring of all things. My husband is an aethiest (who is vice-principal of a catholic high school )

By trade I am a soapmaker and aromatherapist. You can kind of get an idea what I do at www.tubtopia.com I am also working on creating signature perfumes using all natural oils. Essential oils and herbs are my passion.

Anyway, glad to see this thread here!

BB.

demmemoon

oooooo MY favorite TOO! I order my oils from snow drift farms. Where do you find yours? I have been playing around trying to find the gem of a body butter for my skin to keep it in as good shape as possible. I just ordered some coconut oil, avocado oil and I'm afraid I might be allergic to the dang avocado oil. DRAT. ANYwho, I mixed up a coupld of batches before I realized it made me itch. I did one with Lavendar oil but the coconut, though it's supposed to be 'smell less' still has a very strong smell, and it doesn't smell like coconut. It's hard to describe.

I also made up an oil with olive oil as the base that I use in my bath Water that contains... uh.. I have to remember from my brain...

peppermint, rose j., rosemary, frankincense & Sandalwood. It smells dreamy. The funny thing is, when people smell it they think I'm wearing Patchouli.

neat thread!

i'm an athetist. i was actually kicked out of sunday school at 7 years old because they didn't like what i was asking. after that i went to every church service i could find until i was 10 years old trying to find answers... but all i found were more questions. i went to catholic services (beautiful), luthern, baptist (crazzzzzzy), even to synagog. after that i knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it was all crap. my mom completely accepted my decision and i never looked back. in my teens i loved runes and tarot, but couldn't get into the whole goddess thing. i respect wiccans/pagans/etc so incredibly much! now i just exsist. i try to be a good person because i choose to. i accept responsibility for my actions and don't use any excuses when i am weak or do something not quite right. when something good happens to me, i know it's because of the good i put out. i guess i believe in karma and the 3-fold rule.

weee.

I have actually been following some of your post... I love your avatar pic!

T

I have actually been following some of your post... I love your avatar pic!

T

aww! thanks! i'm not blond anymore, but that pic cracks me up. if it was larger you can see me saying "OH" to taking my picture. LOL! plus it pretty much sums me up. :guess

Welcome to all the "Others"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's the day before my surgery and this is how it's gone so far.

6:00: UGH.. wanted to wake up early so I could pick some things up at the store before work. Oh well, I'll at least be on time any way.

6:15: mmmmm I'm so glad I did laundry yesterday so I can wear my most favorite soft cotton knit pale pink shirt to work.

6:37 while in truck: ACK! NO NO NO! chocolate protein drink ALL OVER MY PINK SHIRT. Can I cover with my badge... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Not even. Well, haven't passed Wal-mart yet.. I'll stop anyway and get new shirt.

6:50 in Wal-Mart OH MY GAH... I'm starting to cramp.. I can't BELIEVE I'm starting TODAY. Better get tampons and Tylenol, even though only ibuprophen works.. I can't take ibuprophen before surgery per Dr... Please let extra strength Tylenol work...

7:15 get to work... LATE wearing new scratchy, fit's a little big, pink shirt that isn't NEAR as cute and comfy as the one laying crumpled in the bottom of the floorboard with massive chocolate stains on it shirt.

7:30 stuffed 4 chewable Tylenol go tabs in mouth... cramping so bad I'm sweating and I want to punch something or tear all of my hair out... NOT exaggerating.

8:00 Cannot concentrate on ANYThing cramping is so bad. Tylenol SUCKS

8:30 ran into friend, Shannon in bathroom, she has a cherry pit heating pad that you heat in the microwave... temped to kiss friend

8:45 nuke pad for 3 minutes.. is so hot have to put thick papers on leg to protect but FEELS REALLY GOOD on left side that is somehow hurting worse than the rest of my uterus/right ovary. had two cups of BLACK coffee

9:00 Call surgeon to beg him to let me take my ibuprophen.. left message

9:10 they called back to tell me it was ok to take

9:10 and 1/2 inhaled ibuprophen, reheated cherry pit thingy for the 3rd time and waited for some relief.

9:40 FINALLY getting some relief but feel loopy for taking ibuprophen on top of four Tylenol.

11:00 life is back to normal except for incredibly annoying new pink shirt that rides up and makes my already huge rack look three times as big.... and the burn spot on the left side of tummy.

1:13.. time for more pills. I'm not eating at all today.. just doing my EAS shakes. Be glad when tomorrow's procedure is done and over so I can quit thinking about it.

Glad you are feeling better. Just don't overdose on Tylenol

I've been yelled at by my coworkers (nurses) for taking over 1000mg!

Hail and well-met! LOL. It's hard to describe my tradition. It's primarily Welsh/Celtic, but we also study Sumerian, Greek, Egyptian, Christian, etc. We're mainly interested in enlightenment and liberation of the spirit.

Merry Meet!

I'm mostly wiccan. But sometimes I have more druidic leanings and sometimes I don't feel I can be classified into one particular path so I just say Pagan and leave it at that. I've got celtic and green leanings. I've been practicing since I was 13. Right now I am working on my elemental balance.

I do my own stuff and I am also part of a local women's group (we have a good number of male pagans in my area and I guess when the group was formed it was done because the girls wanted something all to themselves LOL) that meets every other week and that is based on reclaiming and pretty eclectic.

I also did church hopping as a teen. I thought it would be interesting to compare denominations firsthand and it was. Sometimes my goth friends would go with me, or my severely disabled brother would want to come along. You'd be suprised about the different attitudes that people in different congretation can have- it can vary pretty widely-- and you can tell how friendly a place is when you walk in with a goth and a severely disabled person.

My husband is agnostic and good to have around cause I'm going to have him make me an alter to my specifications-- he likes to build stuff.

I start my preop diet on Wednesday and I am nervous about that and being not tempted to binge because mine is this low calorie liquid thing. So I have to be strong!

I'm also a little nervous about NSAIDs because now I take Suldinac a prescription one (sort of like bextra or viox I suppose) thats a little stronger than aleve a few times a week for my Fibro and I know I won't be able to take it for a while. And I do find tylenol to be the least effective of OTC meds. So we will see.

I totally understand about spilling stuff, btw! I can't eat without getting whatever it is all over me in one way or another. I like to stick the shout wipes in my purse and sometimes refer to my chest as my crumb rack... at least it sheilds the lower portions of me when I am standing.

My best friend is Wicca. She seems to be far more balanced and me so that is a positive thing.

Well, I guess I am none of the above, but I am a tolerant. I feel that whatever your beliefs, they are yours and that is good. I just had to check out the thread out of curiousity and find it very interesting. If anyone would not want to give you support, then that is their problem and shame on them. Best to you all.