I was a premature twin at birth, which resulted in my having sight in only one eye. In elementary school, I was picked on for being different. I never felt like I fit in or was accepted. I was chunky, which made me even more awkward than the other kids, and this, combined with my crossed eyes and extreme near-sightedness, made me feel like I could never measure up. At 12, my parents separated because of my dad’s excessive drinking. I was able to start over again in school when Mom moved me and my siblings to the Panama Canal Zone to work as a registered nurse. In Panama, I grew up and “found” myself. I was exposed to another culture and I learned some Spanish, played a little guitar and matured overall. The kids there didn’t make fun of me because most of them were from military families and... Continue Reading
About a year-and-a-half into my FA program, having lost 58 pounds and reaching my goal weight, I started planning a trip. My 17-year-old daughter and I were planning to spend a couple of weeks traveling in Latin America and going to Spanish language school. But my program wasn’t as strong as I thought and, during the planning, I had a break. I didn’t go into relapse, thank God, but indecision racked our plans—which country, which language school, which flights? At times, I doubted that I would keep my abstinence while traveling. It seemed that when I was in charge, planning was chaotic. Then one day during quiet time, everything changed. I heard a voice, or had a thought, that I should make staying abstinent the number one organizing principle of the trip. Fellows shared at meetings about traveling successfully, abstinently. I believed it and my conviction grew. Within days, my... Continue Reading
After a conference, I had a 5:55 a.m. flight to get to my niece’s Sweet 16 celebration. I had my meals prepared the night before and all my bags packed. I figured if I left at 4 a.m. I would be on my flight in ample time. So I set my clock to 3 a.m. I woke up, prayed for an abstinent day, read my Twenty-Four Hours A Day book and took 30 minutes of quiet time. At 3:45 a.m. I made my breakfast and began to load up the car. I ended up leaving at 4:15 a.m. On my way to the airport, I noticed I forgot to fill the tank on my rental car before drop-off. When I left the gas station, the time was 4:30 a.m. Now I’m getting nervous because I realized that I am cutting it close for my flight. So, time for the Serenity... Continue Reading
I joined FA at the age of 71. I was 50 pounds overweight, had diabetes that had been out of control for 30 years, was on medication for heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. I was bingeing at least weekly. I was dying and I knew it. I became a food addict when I was a child. We lived in a rural area, where there were many farmers who would turn over their vegetable fields and orchards to people for picking after they had done two “pickings.” We were very poor, so we took advantage of this food. In this way, we had every fruit and vegetable imaginable. During this time, we had plenty and my mother made sure we ate well. She froze many of the vegetables to make dishes during the winter. There were no limits to how much or what we ate during this time.... Continue Reading
I was the heaviest I had ever been—370 pounds. I almost lost my life and I was using that as an excuse to eat myself to death. I was in Mexico for a fishing vacation none of us will ever forget. Imagine five days in a tropical paradise, blue cloudless sky, and crystal clear water filled with whales, dolphins and hundreds of tropical birds. Our ship was called the Erik and there were 44 people aboard. The first day at sea was calm and beautiful as we sailed towards our fishing destination. We went to bed excited as kids on Christmas Eve, dreaming of the fish we were going to catch in the morning. At two in the morning, a sudden and powerful storm flooded the ship and knocked out power. In my cabin below decks, if you were a fly on the wall you would have seen me wearing... Continue Reading
