First Session

It was the big night last night. Drove across Strines (a remote and hilly road) in a howling gale and lashing rain to get to Penistone for the first session. First impressions - not brilliant, surprisingly.

The house in which all the appointments take place is smartly decked out and comfortable and most of the group had arrived before me. We'were in a front room with chairs set around the outside. I was disappointed to discover that there would be 12 of us. I was also disappointed with the Counsellor to be honest. Now that's just first impressions talking, but she came across as a bit "hale and hearty" and a bit humourless in a "aren't we all jolly?" kind of way. I suppose when you are dealing with a wide cross section of different people you have to go with the endless repetition and lowest common denominator remarks.

Anyway, the above sounds really snide-y and unpleasant and I realise now, with the benefit of hindsight that my first impressions were largely informed by my nerves and by the realisation that, to me at least, this is a really serious endeavour.

The rest of the group was pretty quiet too so I suspect that they too were taking it all very seriously. When we finally had our introductions, I discovered that there are some quite interesting types amongst us. There's an A&E doctor who is quite young and seems like she could be fun. A woman who runs a florist with her family. A primary school headmistress. A woman who is soon going back work as an air stewardess after taking a break to look after her daughter. A woman who breeds Westies. A beautician. A legal secretary. A golf pro (I think - didn't hear that one very clearly). All in all, an interesting bunch.

In the interests of full disclosure I'll reveal that I weighed in at, wait for it, 19 stone and 11 lbs. That is huge and way more than I have ever weighed. I'm currently a size 22/24 in Evans (which is a generously sized shop). My measurements are (in inches):

Height - 5' 7"
BMI - 45
Chest - 50
Waist - 44
Hips - 56
Arm - 18
Thigh - 33
Knee - 20
Calf - 18

I'm intending to post a photo taken by my husband of me in the hallway (for scale) every few weeks so that I can track my progress. This has got to work!!