Attraversiamo. The formal Italian translation is, “Let us cross over” but is typically used in a more informal manner much like the way you would beckon to a friend as if to say, “Let’s cross the street”. I learned of this word through reading a beautiful travel memoir called “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Yes, I have her permission (indeed her blessing) to take this theme from her book and apply it to my blog.
I chose Attraversiamo because it found it to be one of the most fitting words to describe not just my life, but indeed this blog. When I first decided to have weight loss surgery, I spent countless hours online devouring every piece of information I could possibly find about the experience. It fell into two categories, technical and personal. The technical information was readily available and I quickly knew all there was to know about the different types of WLS and their different rates of success, side effects, etc.
The personal information was more difficult to find. I happened upon a couple of dozen sites that started off strong and then just faded away. Or, they were incomplete in other ways, sometimes only showing the triumphant “after” pictures and not detailing what day-to-day life was like both physically and emotionally. I understood what this surgery would do to my guts, but not to my brain and that was frustrating.
I vowed to change that. My goal was to be as honest and detailed as possible about what this experience was really like. It was primarily for myself, as a way to remember what does and does not work going forward, and to remember all of the little joys and sadnesses that we tend to let fall to the wayside in the scope of a larger evolution. The title changed through the years, starting as The Fat Diaries because I just lacked the originality to delve any deeper. Then it was The Weight Is Over because I thought it was cute and snappy. But once the weight was over, I didn’t know what to call this body of work.
Eventually, I discovered Attraversiamo, the word and the concept. I found it very fitting to describe my life and the evolution of this blog. It started with details of my Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch, the struggles with adjusting, moved along to life as a Thin Person, and my Lost period where I tried to find where I fit into this new paradigm.
Am I out of my Lost period? Yes and no. I lost weight. I lost friends. I lost my marriage. Later, I lost Love but it was misplaced and misdirected love and it’s a good thing it’s gone…I think. But I’ve gained so much too. Good things, positive things, Happy things. I continue to try to find myself, accepting this new woman I have become for all the good and bad and switch the focus of my life…and my writing…because the weight, the wait, is indeed over and almost all I’ve worked for has come to fruition.
Where does that leave us now?
Well, you’ve got close to 4 years of extremely honest documentation about what living through and with weight loss surgery can bring to a person. There’s a year missing; I had some technical issues and lost a lot of writing so there’s an unfortunate gap. But this site takes you through it all, the physical and emotional aspects of losing 200 pounds, adventures in plastic surgery, body image, side effects, and all of that.
Welcome.
