Back from San Diego!

Hello Friends, well I am back from my time (sounds like a jail sentence!) in San Diego. It was great as you can imagine. Such a high to see my family and friends being almost 100 lbs. lighter than the last time I saw them!! If you want to read through this, do so at your own risk. It is probably boring!! First let me say how much I missed you all!! So very much. I haven't looked through all the posts yet but for starters - Natalie, thanks for the info on the new calcium, can't wait to try it. Also, sorry about your daughter's illness, I'll have to read more and see how she's doing. Same for Kathy on your sister, hope that is going as well as can be expected. And Lei - I want to go cruising!! That sounds so fun. And for all the others who have had surgery while I was gone, congratulations - this is an awesome ride!! And congratulations to Shannon and your beautiful wedding. So I notice some have changed their names -- I'll have to figure that one out!! And Happy Birthday belatedly to Betsy -- what is this cluckin' business about!! I have lots of reading to do!! Did I mention to you all that for part of the trip I was going to take care of five of my eleven grandchildren while my daughter and her hubby went on a conference? That was a trip to say the least. The oldest of that group is a 17 year old boy, and the youngest a four year old boy. I can see why my daughter literally yells at me when I innocently say 'Traci, I wish you would take some enrichment classes, or do more things for yourself'!! Poor girl doesn't have time to do anything - at least I didn't. Well here are several of my wow moments! I just wanted to share. Of course the first was getting on the plane and sitting down and seeing if I could do the seat belt. I could - in fact the excess belt was the length from my wrist to a little past my elbow. Yes, I measured!! Also, I could put the tray table down, and it went flat, not on a slope. That was very cool. I was totally smiling. This all took place before we even took off, I just had to check things out right away. So, I'm sitting there smiling, and there was an empty seat next to me and the young woman in the next seat in the same row, so I said, ah, excuse me, what is your name? She took off her headphones and I saw the look on her face like oh crud, I'm sitting next to a talker. She said 'it's Missy', so I said 'Missy, I am so excited I can't stand it and I have to tell someone so I want to tell you. I have lost a lot a weight and this is my first plane ride since doing that, and I can hook the seat belt and put down the tray table.' Of course she was very sweet (with a name like Missy, would you expect her not to be!) and said 'wow that is awesome, congratulations'. And put her head phones on and went back to zonesville. Well as you can imagine I didn't like that response. I mean it was nice, but not as exciting as I wanted it to be. So after awhile and we had been in flight about 2 hours, I got up and walked to the back and tracked down the flight attendants. They weren't busy, so I decided to share my story with them. Oh, and walking down the aisle - no sideways walk, just straight on! Well the flight attendants gave me a much better reaction, just ohhhhh and ahhhhh, and wanted all the information on how I did it, and just went on and on. Perfect. So then my next wow moment was a totally wow moment for me. I went to pick up my granddaughter (12 years) from school after I had been there a couple of days. She was walking out to meet me and I was standing with a group of other moms and Kjersti was with a gaggle of her little cute friends, and a teacher!! The teacher said that when they first walked out Kjersti said, 'that's my grandma, the skinny blond.' I couldn't believe it. As you all know who have seen me, I am no where near being a skinny blond. Oh, and when I first got to their house (I forgot to tell you this) my 17 year old grandson said 'I've never seen you look like this before Grandma.' I thought that was cute. So here I am, back at home, a little exhausted!! Now it's laundry clean up time and house cleaning!! So if you've made it this far in the reading, just know that I've missed you all very much, and don't know if I will catch up on all the posts or not, but just know that I do love and appreciate you all. But it's good to be home. love donna

Welcome home Donna!!! Missed ya too! sounds like you had a great trip and had many pleasurable compliments...don't work too hard! hugs JudyB

Hi Judy, thanks for the post! Yeah, it was a great trip. It is nice to be home though. Hope you're doing okay! love donna

Welcome back Beautiful! Glad your trip was a great success not to mention chock full of what we here already know. Grandma's H-O-T, beatiful and I'm so happy to hear of your wow moments. They make me smile as I still think of ones I've had and things I couldn't do before. The list seems endless. I'm proud of you and obviously your family is too. Kat

Hi Kat, thank you so much for the 'hot' comment! I am sure if I said that to any of my grandkids they would laugh and say well that's not exactly what we thought!! I haven't really had a lot of wow moments, so I've been waiting for something to really hit me. I guess the plane ride with the seat belt and tray table were really eye opening for me! I missed you! I have to get my stats to you so I can be on your list!! love donna

Welcome back and so nice to read about you wow moments. I know how great they do feel . So much for you to catch up on gurlie while you where away .... There is the Mother Clucker adventure that me , Jill, Holly, Joann , Shannon , Betsy and Dianna had .. at the bar called CLUCKS ... you will get a hoot out of Jills post last Sunday . Yes my daughter was and is still ill .. but we are trying to get her taken care of .. Are you getting ready for June yet ? I so want to see you again .. Welcome home lovie !!! Tink

Hi Natalie, I hope things in your life are calm for you right now. It sounds like you all had a great time at Cluckers! My feeling is -- the group of you that went, that place will never be the same, and they will probably all be waiting for you to show up again this weekend!! love donna p.s. Yup, I will definitely see you in June! What is the date, do you know?

G'morning girlfriend ~ .....and WELCOME Back!!!!! It's great seeing that beautiful face smiling back at us this morning - I was starting to wonder if you'd decided to just stay in San Diego. It would appear the 'temptation' of our nice weather finally lured you back HOME (where you belong) with us! I have to tell you, I smiled (and it got bigger with each paragraph) the entire time I was reading your update. Loved it and I KNOW you already KNOW to add it to your profile, right? I can visualize you struttin' your hot self down the aisle to share your awesome news with the flight crew, just wish I'd really been there. My first trip on a plane was about a 150 lbs lighter. My first trip in the last 20 years, that the belt went around me (minus an enxtension) and the food tray came down flat. Id always used the one next to me, if it was available, or declined food/drinks, if it wasn't. I musta' put my food tray down, up, down, up, down, up - a thousand times on that flight. Why? ....cause I could!!!!!!! Welcome home - missed you bunches - oh, and as far as that CRUISE in October?? MAKE IT HAPPEN, woman, pleaseeeeeeeee!!! Ive had several of the VaBeachCruiseChicks ask me if I'd heard back from you yet on the cruise - we'd absolutely love it if you DID!!!! Lots of hugs and love, coming your way ~ Me!

Hi Lei - I know that all of us who have had the weight and then been fortunate to lose it and ride on a plane, know the satisfacation of doing the seat belt! In fact, that is what one of the flight attendants said, that they just don't really realize all the inconveniences that obese people go through. I also had to take a commuter plane from San Fran (I had a stop over) to San Diego, and I was sweating on that one, those planes are so little. But as soon as I got in I straped, and yup, that one fit too!! It was pretty awesome. I will cut and paste in my profile, just like you've taught me. I just have to find some time to do that. Also, Lei, how do I share an album from Shutterfly. Not my vacation (I am sure that wouldn't be interesting to anyone!!), but I have some other pictures from Charlottesville I wanted to share. For the cruise, I noticed that you have to have a room mate. Is everyone matched up? I still have to check out the dates of course, but if no one is available to share, I won't even bother. Thanks for the post Lei, I missed you!! love donna

What a wonderful story!!!! I know you enjoyed those grandchildren while you were out there and I know they were pleased to see the "skinny blonde" grandma. That was sooo cute. We have really missed you on the board and the weekend in Danville...We had a cluckin good time. We can do it again whenever anyone wants to come down. I had a ball. Well, Sweetie...we need pictures of your adventure posted soon. Glad you are home! I love you... Hugs, Betsy