Beginning in February 2007, I started seeing Sally Ray, a life coach and professional eating disorder counselor. Entries included here were written throughout the year as I traveled through the emotional hoo-ha of deciding how I could successfully lose 100 plus pounds from my defiant gut. Who knows how one gets to be this size? So many reasons. So many stories. No more excuses. Today I am on the other side of surgery. I now have a Realize lap band inside me. Here, I will share my journal entries and progress as a blog – catching up to the present. It’s a bit daunting putting my heart out here for everyone to see. But, maybe you will catch a glimpse of someone you didn’t know and see how we are all alike in our humanness. My daughter, Emily, helped me decide on the name for the blog when we were brain storming catchy names. I always liked the song, Skip to My Lou, when I was growing up and thought it sounded like a good name. Out of curiosity I looked up its history on Wikepedia and the meaning seemed even more appropriate. Skip to My (The) Lou was a popular partner stealing dance from America’s frontier period. Since instruments were frowned upon, particularly the fiddle, the dancers had to create their own music by clapping and singing. I think it’s weird that one couldn’t play music, but one could dance. Couples would dance around a lone male who sang “lost my partner, what’ll I do.” At the appropriate point in the lyrics, he would “steal” the partner of a dancing man as he sang “I’ll find another one prettier than you.” The displaced man would take his place in the circle. I’ve lost my partner, now what will I do? My husband died in 2002. He said I’d find another. We’ll see. “Lou” is apparently a corruption of “loo,” the Scottish word for love. So, I have lost my love in my husband and I’ve lost the love of myself. It’s time to find it all again and Skip to M’lu, my own love my darlins! I hope you enjoy reading the blog.