Week #18: Just Sit Down!

 

This is the only picture I could find of me sitting.  Pictures where I was sitting were usually cropped so you couldn't see my thighs and how my legs couldn't shut.  This was last August at our weekend getaway for my 40th birthday.  I loved this chair because of how big it was.

I couldn't find any pictures of me sitting down.  That's because it was one of the most painful things I could do before.  Oh, I would much rather have been sitting than standing--who wanted to stand holding 300 pounds?!  BUT...often I didn't fit into chairs and getting down into the seat was just slightly less painful than getting up out of the seat.

Toilets were the worst!  (Yes, Katy, if you are reading this you should just stop here.  I will be using potty words!) 

Once, I was at a party and I had to go to the bathroom really badly.  As soon as I saw the toilet I panicked.  It was practically ON the ground!  But I had to go, so I had no choice but to get down there.  Only problem?  (Oh, this is embarrassing!)  I couldn't get back up.  There was nothing to grab hold of to hoist me back on my feet.  My knees and back were too weak to make the journey up without support.  I sat there and thought, "I'm going to have to die on this toilet.  This is what the end looks like!"  But I survived.  What did I do?  I got down on my hands and knees, because it was easier to get up from that position because I could push up on my hands.  I know, sad, right?!

Another time, when I was at a friend's house, I grabbed a towel bar to hold on to on my way up from the potty.  CRASH!  I pulled the whole thing off the wall.  EM-BARRASS-ING!!!!

Yesterday, I was at an event and I noticed that the toilets in the public restroom were very low.  But I realized I no longer had a paralyzing fear.  I can get up and down with ease now.  I don't have to hold on to anything to hoist my body down or to lift my body up.  I can carry my own weight.  WHOA!!!  This is no small thing, Friends.

I also taught the three-year-olds at church last Sunday.  Now, one thing about teaching the tiny kids--they have VERY tiny chairs.  And there was never a teacher chair in the room.  So, I really never sat with the kids.  There was no way I was getting down onto the tiny chair, nor did I have any confidence that tiny chair wouldn't collapse under my weight even if I did get down there!!!  BUT...last week, I could get up and down easily off of the tiny chairs.  AND, I was down on the floor playing with the kids, never concerned that I might not be able to get up!

This is all just in 18 weeks.  Imagine how I will feel in another 18 weeks.  This is nothing short of a miracle.  Look how God is changing my life!!!

Oh, and, I am now one pound away from weighing what I did on my wedding day!  I love this man!!!  (And...he's one pound away from being at a healthy BMI weight!)