Blossoming

This morning, I weighed in at 229.4.  It has been so many years since I have weighed this little.  Being in the 220’s is something I only dreamed about when I started my journey last November.

You see, when I was 18, I started down a road that was definitely not the best path for me to take.  I didn’t listen to many people who told me not to go that route.  I don’t regret it though, because I know that everything happens a reason and because at the end of that road, I ended up with two awesome, healthy and amazing children.

Recently, my Mom taught me about different growing zones for plants and flowers and today I was thinking about that.

When I was 18, I was alive, excited, and awake, but also naive.  I was like one of those roses that you sometimes see that is about to open and bloom, but seems like it just didn’t have what it needed to make that happen.  It’s beautiful red petals turn dark and start to shrivel up afraid to open and experience life.  I was that rose, not getting what I needed to thrive.  Each bad decision only caused me to decay and lose more of myself.  I wasn’t in the right growing zone and I don’t just mean geographically.  Part of me felt like I would just stay that way until one day I died.  All closed up and shriveled. All of my petals lifelessly blown away by the wind from life’s storms.

On November 28, 2016 that all changed.  I made the decision to have gastric bypass surgery.  I still remember how nervous I was the day of surgery.  I was so worried that I wouldn’t make it through surgery, I must have prayed about a million times that day.  I made it through just fine.  Since then I’ve worked really hard.  Anyone who says that I took the easy way, has never been through it.  I have had an incredible amount of support from friends and family.

I feel like I have been transplanted!  I’m definitely in the right zone now.  I am starting to feel and see new growth.  Mentally and physically I am changing.  Of course I still need work.  A quote by Liberty Hyde Bailey says, “A garden requires patient labor and attention.  Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.”  I continue to thrive and try to be patient with myself.  I can tell you one thing though, I’m starting to blossom!