How Did I Get Here?: Part 16

On March 3rd of 2007 I got engaged to my Tabitha.  We picked out the ring together, although she didn't know when I would pop the question.  I opted for her 40th birthday party in front of family and friends.  Normally I wouldn't condone such a time or place for a big moment like this, but since I knew the answer was yes, I planned out a strategy for surprising someone who knew what was coming eventually.  Not an easy thing to do.  I arranged for a friend to re-image the lyric on a karaoke duet that Tab and I perform to this day and it was to be an on-screen proposal to catch her off guard.  The time arrived and the disc wouldn't work. Crap!  Improvising, I got down on one knee and in front of everyone, asked her to be my bride.  When a 360-pound man gets down on one knee to propose, he should really think about how he will be getting back up.  I didn't plan that far ahead and in the process, fell over like a Weeble.  Well, almost like a Weeble.  I wobbled AND I fell down as I struggled to get back upright.  Talk about humiliating.


The wife and I planned every detail of our wedding.  We wanted to do things our way and not the cookie-cutter packages that each banquet hall seemed to push.  We finally settled on a place where we knew the banquet manager and we could tailor everything to our liking, including vegan options for Tab and a few of our friends.  Everything about the affair was unique to us.  We knew we didn't want a religious ceremony as neither of us are church-goin' folk so we opted to have someone we both know, love and respect do the hitchin'.  My Aunt Heidi graciously accepted and went about the steps to have herself ordained online to legally marry us.  The ceremony was filled with lots thoughtfully selected music and the reception was to include live vocal performances from Tab and I, including our own choreographed wedding song.  The planning was long and arduous, but it was a labor of love...literally.


This was kind of a stressful time for me.  I wanted to lose some weight so I could make strides toward a better life for us and, at the very least, look good for my wedding day.  My mother, who lived in the house she and I co-owned and shared, was in the process of moving to other digs and money the likes of which I had never thrown around before was flying out the door as fast as we could earn it.  All together, I think we went about 50% over budget in the end.  More on that in a bit.  Needless to say, stress is not very conducive to lasting lifestyle changes and weight loss. 


In January 2008, three months prior to our wedding, Tab and I lost someone very close to us in a very tragic way.  Consequently, we decided to push our wedding out until October of that year and regroup.  The wedding hall gave us a new date and we had another six months to gather our thoughts and move on with our lives.  As if life wasn't stressful enough, it went into overdrive from there.  Despite trying to...scratch that, WANTING to lose significant weight prior to the big day, I once again could not get a handle on it.  I managed to lose 20-25 pounds or so in the year and a half of planning, but I failed miserably at making any permanent changes.


One of the major causes of angst prior to the wedding day came about two weeks before.  We got word that our venue had been marked for seizure by the bankruptcy courts.  We had already given them thousands of dollars and, while they wanted to continue with our contract and move forward, we couldn't risk it.  Our biggest fear was showing up and having the place padlocked and closed after having thrown even more money at a bad situation.  We walked away from the investment and managed to find a new site, alert all the guests and throw, in my humble opinion, the best wedding I had ever been a part of.


I see pictures of myself from our big day and many of them make me cringe a bit.  Tabitha wanted a certain picture over our fire place, one in which I thought I looked quite wide, but the reality of it is, there isn't much anyone can do short of blatant photoshopping that will slim my image down with any success.  I relented to Tab's wishes and while it is not the worst picture of the event, the one you see above is a lasting reminder of my girth on the day I wed.


Cya Sunday,
M


What I ate Friday and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ The very Italian Egg Mikemuffin you saw in Food Thursday
Lunch ~ Eggplant stew over brown rice
Snacks throughout the day ~ I kept going back to my pickled carrots all day Friday.  Couldn't get enough.
Dinner ~ Took out sis for her birthday.  I overdid it.  A glass of red and seafood salad to start.  Stuffed shrimp and veggies with a taste of the mashed potatoes as a second course.  After, I decided to treat myself to a Southern Comfort on the rocks.  My bartender friend over-poured to begin with and topped me off when I wasn't looking.  Not a great TDT195 kind of evening.
Exercise ~ none