This is not your Mother's Y...

This photo is me the day before surgery doing my final pre-surgery weigh-in... I was looking for a photo to show you me now but all of them hide my fat... I guess old habits die hard. I will be celebrating my 3 month bandiversary while in Niagara Falls celebrating my birthday, in fact they are the same day. I will be 41 exactly 3 months after my band was installed and my new life started. I will take several full length photos to post on that trip... I promise. i will not hide behind my George for several photos. I will not be in a bikini yet but I've lost 60 pounds and come along way since Penny Lane came into my life. The surgeon also fixed that giant hernia jetting out from my stomach making me look like I'm 7 months pregnant as well. Niagara and me, beautiful and natural. Look for it! Well, like I told you in an earlier blog, I joined the YMCA... I just thought that my exercise needs would change and expand so I wanted a place that I could grow in... I actually joined 2 1/2 weeks ago and just went yesterday for the first time. I wasn't procrastinating... but I ended up heading up north for a little over a week so my workouts got put on hold for cheesesteaks and pizza... Well, I'm back and nervous that my hometown comfort zone caused a little slip up or two... so I started pedalling the bike to no where and walked the treadmill to anytown, USA. I went to the big YMCA instead of my Y around the corner. The Y up the street from me is really nice. It is brightly colored and has an awesome outdoor pool with a slide and sprinklers for the kids. The locker room has wooden lockers like a 1950's country club and a sauna with all the comforts at home... shampoo, hairspray, lotion, and other toiletries. I am loving it. It is not open on Sundays so I went to the big one since they were. I look forward to the cycling studio, Zumba, Latin Cardio, Bellydancing for fitness, etc... when i am ready but for now I enjoy the options for cardio and the pool. Anyway, It made me think about going to the Y as a family when I was a child. We went to swim in the pool and to summer day camp. Memories are a vibrant thing, I can recall all the shades of grey and the overwelming smell of chlorine in the air. It was an awesome place to go then... and now it's different, more fancy, and modern but still amazing. I love my Y.