Gobble Gobble

As Thanksgiving was approaching this year I was having a little bit of anxiety.

Growing up we would head over to grandma's house mid-morning and that when it it began. With grandma in the kitchen either cooking or baking and the rest of us milling around the house. You could catch some of us sitting in the living room glued the TV watching watching whatever football game was on. My dad inevitably would sit and fall asleep in whatever chair he happened to grace, this of course was not because he was lazy, but merely because the poor man was so sleep deprived from working the night shift. The older cousins would have some form of a football game going on the large beautifully manicured front lawn with the younger cousins riding around on various and sundry bikes, trikes and scooters. Given the right moment you might even happen to stumble on one cousin pushing another in the old fashioned, claw foot tub go-kart. Others would be found in the kitchen socializing as the final touches were being put on the amazing meal that we would all sit down to consume in the near hours. During this time of playing and socializing is when we began eating for the day! There was always many different options of cracker, chips, dips, veggies and of course the olives.

Around two or so in the afternoon is when any where from 30-60 of us would sit down to the table and a blessing would be said and then it was GAME ON. As we filled our plates we would go around the table and state what were were grateful for. My plate always had heaps of creamy mashed potatoes, buttered golden corn, at least 2 different types of savory turkey amongst multiple different side dishes. There was the 3-5 different kinds of jello and jello salads, the sweet potatoes with golden brown marshmallows on top, grandmas fresh out of the oven fluffy rolls with tons of butter, stuffing made from scratch and of course top it off with the gravy.

A few hours after dinner and stuffing ourselves so full you almost have to roll us around the house like the oopa loompa's rolled Violet out of the chocolate factory, is when the pies and desserts would show face. Of course it didn't matter that huge meal we just consumed still hadn't had time to even think about digesting. BRING ON THE PIE!!! My favorite was always my Aunt's chocolate chip pecan pie with a mountain of whipped cream on top.

Thanksgiving this year was a bit different. This was my first Thanksgiving after having had WLS. I was so anxious about how this was going to go down! How was I going to get through a Thanksgiving only being able to eat a cup of food and having all this yummy goodness around me.
We had two different kinds of mashed potatoes, Sweet potato casserole, cream corn, home made stuffing, broccoli salad, rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy and of course the turkey. Everything looked and smelled divine! I wanted it ALL. I had to remember though that I have come SO far and I also don't like how much pain I am in when I over eat, or how sick I get.

I am happy to report I did it! I survived Thanksgiving this year! I took a few bites of the side dishes that I wanted to and ate a good portion of  turkey for protein purposes. I didn't over eat. I didn't get sick and most importantly I enjoyed myself. I was able to take a day that we tend to focus around food and instead focus on the people that I was sharing it with. I was also proud of myself because I played in the turkey bowl. I was able to RUN! I ran up and down the field and I didn't die! It felt good.

As this Thanksgiving season has come and gone, I have an abundance to be thankful for but, I will take the time here to express how grateful I am that I have become a healthier girl. I am grateful for modern medicine and the tools that we have to help ourselves if we choose to take advantage. I am grateful that I have been given a second chance to become who my Father in Heaven intended me to be.

So here we go, another stumbling block overcome along this beautiful journey...