dianeseattle
Member
It's a gorgeous day in Seattle! I just want to welcome all the newcomers to YOUR group. We are friendly and open and trustworthy. We've all experienced the same kind of life. Some of us are new to this, still in agony over our compulsive overeating, or disease or disorder that's caused us to become people we don't recognize and don't want to be. Some of us are newly post-operative and have a lot of questions we didn't get answered during our prep for this surgery. Some were sleeved; some had a form of bypass; all of us are forever changed.
You won't find a more welcoming place to share safely. I've been here since 2008 and it is the best experience of my life, other than the birth of my son, who's now 45.
Of course, we can't give medical advice, but a lot of your post-op experiences may not be all that medical, but emotional and psychological and spiritual. If you don't feel comfortable enough to ask, please use the Search feature up in the right corner and enter a key word that covers your topic and you'll find a post that covers it. But I hope you'll feel free eventually to ask us personally.
In a nutshell, I was one of 8 children raised by an abusive mom who had horrible low self-esteem. My dad traveled about 2 weeks out of every month because he was a landscaper for the Great Northern Railway and he had to grow all the flowers to plant around the depots from Seattle to St. Paul, as well as all the lilies and other cut flowers in the bud vases on the dining cars. We lived on a farm near the greenhouses and whenever we felt like it, we'd just jump on a train and go up to the next town where it would turn back and return to the greenhouses. We also rode the train for free to any destination.
My life fell apart when JFK was assassinated, which coincided with the railroad's decision to shut down the greenhouses forever. I'm just going to leave that part out because it's still painful to this day.
Still, that catastrophe turned out to be a great thing, because it moved me away from the super-religious, pious, all-Dutch community of sexist farmers and submissive wives, which spun us into the mainstream where we could hang around with "sinners" and listen to rock'n'roll music, and coincided with the arrival of The Beatles... anyone who lived then knows what I'm talking about.
There were 10 kids in my dad's family and 8 in my mom's, so they saw nothing weird about having 8 kids of their own. I have 70 first cousins because everyone followed the same lifestyle.
I was raised like a twin, with a very skinny, bony sister, whereas I was a normal chubby-ish kid. We were constantly pitted against each other but we also loved each other more than anyone else on earth. I was a very unhappy kid and was 17 the first time I tried to commit suicide. I tried about five more times until I became pregnant at 28 and gave birth to the most beautiful baby on earth (we all say that, right?). That was my second marriage, and both husbands were physically abusive.
Anyway, I could write a book, but suffice it to say, over the years I have realized I'm a wonderful person and no one can ever take anything away from me again. I did, however, end up gaining a lot of weight, to the point where I was 269 pounds. Dieted for years, every diet you can name, WW twice or three times, and just kept gaining it back. I did go into supportive talking-listening therapy in the 1970s, read a million self-help books, and it took all that and more before I became comfortable with my heart, soul and mind. I'm now beyond happy with who I am and I have plenty of love to share with others.
Like I said, use the search feature and find members by topic and reach out to them. Mind the dates on the posts, since there's about 20 years of old ones here and those members are usually long gone. But if you read every day and search for members by name, you'll find just the right person to talk to. Even if you're new, you may draw someone out who's old but has never posted before. Whatever you do, don't feel pressured. We love the lurkers as much as the talkers, and there's also a private message feature if you just want to talk to one person privately.
I hope, wherever you are, there are flowers pushing up through the earth saying "hi" to you, and reminding you that you are in a beautiful place.
You won't find a more welcoming place to share safely. I've been here since 2008 and it is the best experience of my life, other than the birth of my son, who's now 45.
Of course, we can't give medical advice, but a lot of your post-op experiences may not be all that medical, but emotional and psychological and spiritual. If you don't feel comfortable enough to ask, please use the Search feature up in the right corner and enter a key word that covers your topic and you'll find a post that covers it. But I hope you'll feel free eventually to ask us personally.
In a nutshell, I was one of 8 children raised by an abusive mom who had horrible low self-esteem. My dad traveled about 2 weeks out of every month because he was a landscaper for the Great Northern Railway and he had to grow all the flowers to plant around the depots from Seattle to St. Paul, as well as all the lilies and other cut flowers in the bud vases on the dining cars. We lived on a farm near the greenhouses and whenever we felt like it, we'd just jump on a train and go up to the next town where it would turn back and return to the greenhouses. We also rode the train for free to any destination.
My life fell apart when JFK was assassinated, which coincided with the railroad's decision to shut down the greenhouses forever. I'm just going to leave that part out because it's still painful to this day.
Still, that catastrophe turned out to be a great thing, because it moved me away from the super-religious, pious, all-Dutch community of sexist farmers and submissive wives, which spun us into the mainstream where we could hang around with "sinners" and listen to rock'n'roll music, and coincided with the arrival of The Beatles... anyone who lived then knows what I'm talking about.
There were 10 kids in my dad's family and 8 in my mom's, so they saw nothing weird about having 8 kids of their own. I have 70 first cousins because everyone followed the same lifestyle.
I was raised like a twin, with a very skinny, bony sister, whereas I was a normal chubby-ish kid. We were constantly pitted against each other but we also loved each other more than anyone else on earth. I was a very unhappy kid and was 17 the first time I tried to commit suicide. I tried about five more times until I became pregnant at 28 and gave birth to the most beautiful baby on earth (we all say that, right?). That was my second marriage, and both husbands were physically abusive.
Anyway, I could write a book, but suffice it to say, over the years I have realized I'm a wonderful person and no one can ever take anything away from me again. I did, however, end up gaining a lot of weight, to the point where I was 269 pounds. Dieted for years, every diet you can name, WW twice or three times, and just kept gaining it back. I did go into supportive talking-listening therapy in the 1970s, read a million self-help books, and it took all that and more before I became comfortable with my heart, soul and mind. I'm now beyond happy with who I am and I have plenty of love to share with others.
Like I said, use the search feature and find members by topic and reach out to them. Mind the dates on the posts, since there's about 20 years of old ones here and those members are usually long gone. But if you read every day and search for members by name, you'll find just the right person to talk to. Even if you're new, you may draw someone out who's old but has never posted before. Whatever you do, don't feel pressured. We love the lurkers as much as the talkers, and there's also a private message feature if you just want to talk to one person privately.
I hope, wherever you are, there are flowers pushing up through the earth saying "hi" to you, and reminding you that you are in a beautiful place.
