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What my relatives said...



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This month I've had visits from relatives and old friends who live afar. These are people who have known me all my life, but I haven't seen much of in the last 2-3 years. Naturally, they were amazed and pleased.

They were also a little weirded out. Evidently I now look like my mother, which no one has EVER said of me before. She was a beautiful woman undone in later life by alcohol, but early pictures of her bear a striking resemblance to Lauren Bacall.

So to have an aunt on one day, and an uncle the following weekend, be moved almost to tears by my resemblance to their dead sister was both complimentary and a little sad. I'm really sorry my parents aren't here to see my transformation. :)

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Alex I know your parents would be proud. Its so wonderful that your family is behind you!! You are such a great inspiration to all of us bandsters. Great job!!!

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That is absolutely beautiful. What a moving story, and bittersweet. I would love to see a posted pic of your mom and you, side by side. That's amazing, since her brother and sister knew her young and vibrant, and now to see you like that. Incredible.

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Kathy, one of the reasons they were visiting was to help clean our attic out of things they might want to keep. (Long story, but my attic is full of family photos and stuff.) So I've been looking for a photo of my mom when she was about my age. When I find one you can bet I'll be scanning it.

I did find one of her in her early 20s, in a studio shot of the early 1950s. She certainly was beautiful! I wonder if that how I might have looked at that age, had I not weighed 250+ lbs.

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Your not in your early 20's? You look so young in your pics!!! LOL. Glad you had such a nice NSV and got some quality time with your family. Best wishes, Teresa

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Alex, this is so very beautiful!

Very touching.

What a great reminder that when we lose someoone we love, our memories of them will be with us forever.

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Thanks for telling us this moving story. How great that you had a chance to see your extended family. Hope you find the picture of your mother at your age (late 20s, right?) that you're looking for.

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      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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