1 year ago today....

One year ago today my life completely changed. I remember being wheeled into the operating room with tears rolling down my cheeks and the anesthesiologist asking me if I was OK. I laughed and told him the faster he put me to sleep the better I would be.  Then I remember waking up to James holding my hand in recovery. One year ago I made the decision to save my own life and change my future and the future of my family.

    There have been small moments this year when I have realized just how far I've come. Like, when I ran and chased James Henry around the pond in Red River (I couldn't have ran before). When I tried on my swimsuit and sat and cried in the dressing room at Dillard's because even as a teenager I never wore a size that small.  When James and I were wrestling and he picked me up over his head and swung me around.  When I see someone I haven't seen along time and they walk past me because they don't recognize me. The first time I RAN a mile on the treadmill.

   The real moments come at the Doctor when I'm told I am the picture of health. The mornings when I wake up so rested and full of energy because I sleep so well and no longer snore. When I realize I have not had to refill the prescription for my inhaler in months! The fact that I have learned so much about nutrition and the correct fuel for my body that I am teaching my children good healthy habits. 

   I look back at pictures of myself and don't even recognize who I was, don't get me wrong I was never unhappy or sad, I was just different than I am now.  I feel free now to do things I could not do before.

   This past year has been full of change and a lot of "firsts". In the next few months I plan on marking two more things off my new body bucket list. 1) zip lining across the Canyon  2) putting on a GI.

Yes, #2 just might make my husbands dreams come true! Plus,  I have already started kickboxing with Christopher. 

  I am so thankful to God for allowing me the opportunity to step forward and change my life. I am beyond blessed to be married to an amazingly God loving, supportive husband. He is my rock and my personal cheerleader. I am so very blessed.

In honor of my first surgerversary...here are some before and after pictures. Today my total weight loss sits at -68 pounds.

Christmas cards 2013 & 2012