ca62girl

Hello to all my Buddies…..

I haven’t been on this site since Dec. In Dec 08 I had shoulder surgery & in Jan 09 I started up another semester full-time at college. Well, since the surgery and college I’ve gained 10lbs and I’m NOT happy about this. So, about a month ago I joined Curves for Women and started eating healthy again. I was doing so good until the surgery. It really laid me up, it wasn’t easy going to physical therapy either. Shoulder is doing much better, but still have some problems if I use it too much. Anyways, I’m back FULL-Force and I’m here to commit to getting myself back into shape. I hope you all have been doing well. I’ve missed all of my buddies on here. I hope to hear from you soon.

Carolyn

Often people have the misconception that identical twins are exactly the same in all aspects. I have first hand account that this is far from the truth, since I have identical twin girls. Another mistaken belief is that people think identical twins are hereditary. I often get asked the question, “Oh, do twins run in your family?” Identical twins only make up one-third of the amount of twins born; the remaining two-thirds are fraternal or maternal, which is hereditary. Identical twins come from one egg and one sperm and for reasons unknown to science, the egg splits into two. My identical twins have a lot of similar physical features and personality traits, but they are far from one and the same.
I found out I was carrying twins when I was six months pregnant. The doctors immediately labeled each twin inside my womb; Baby A and Baby B. I went into labor on Mother’s Day 1987, a few weeks before their expected due date. There were no complications and they were born healthy, thriving baby girls. Baby A, Brianna Michelle came first, weighing five pounds eight and a half ounces. Four minutes later, Baby B, Shannon Marie arrived, weighing in at four pounds fifteen and a half ounces. The only visible differences at birth were their weight. I was able to tell them apart very easily. Prior to their birth, I felt a difference between the two of them inside of me. Baby A, Brianna, was very active in my womb. Baby B, Shannon, was calmer and seemed to take up less space inside of my ever-growing belly. Not knowing this back then, but their activity inside of me did play a part in their personalities growing up.
In their early years, I noticed that Brianna always wanted to be first at everything. If I went to feed them, Brianna wanted her bottle first. If she didn’t get it first, she would gladly tell me with an ear-piercing cry. Shannon was calmer and less demanding. Brianna was very sociable and would hug strangers, whereas Shannon was very clingy to me and followed me everywhere I went. When Brianna was younger, I put little bells on her shoes because she was so active and would often leave my sight. Brianna usually seemed to be the leader of the two of them. Shannon was in front of her sister as far as physical aspects; she crawled first, walked first and spoke the first words.
When my girls were about three years old and learning new words and sentences I noticed some unfamiliar vocabulary. My daughters had developed their own secret language, otherwise known as twin-talk or idioglossia. I thought this was pretty amazing and they did too. When I would ask them what a specific word they said meant, they would just laugh and wouldn’t let me in to their secret little world. About age five, the novelty of their language wore off since they entered school and interacted with other children their own age. I purposely entered them into separate classrooms. I wanted my twins to find their own identities and be able to function without the other one.
At school age, Brianna often got into trouble for being to talkative and bossy. Shannon got into trouble for being too quiet and shy and not interacting enough with the other students. Teachers often wondered why they were so different, but I was happy that they weren’t exactly alike. Their physical appearances were almost identical except for a few features. Shannon was always a bit smaller, but only by a few pounds or a ½ inch in height. Shannon also had a small birthmark under her right eye (which was later removed at age 12). Shannon also had a shade lighter of brown hair and had two hair whorls on the top of her head instead of one like her sister. The funny thing with the girls is each wanted what the other didn’t have. Brianna wanted a birthmark under her eye like her sister. Shannon hers removed to be more like her sister. Brianna used to take my brown eyeliner and make a faux birthmark so they could be equal. Physically, they had the same bad eyesight, same crooked teeth, same voice, and looking at them from the back, you could not decipher which was which. Raising twins was a bit challenging since I had to make everything equal; otherwise they would let me know.
My daughters were the best of friends, but they had somewhat of a love/hate relationship. They were constantly together, day in and day out. But if one of them took a shirt that belonged to the other, the clothing wars began. They were usually inseparable, even though they had their own bedroom they chose to sleep in the same room. Throughout school, their grades were somewhat comparable and they shared the same friends.
Brianna was the first to leave home after high school graduation to attend college. Shannon had enlisted into the Navy in the middle of their senior year, and wasn’t leaving till the fall. This was the first time my twins were separated for any extended length of time from one another. It was very strange for Shannon as well as for me. Brianna ended up going to college for one year. She then decided that she wanted to do something more exciting in her life, so she too enlisted in the Navy.
They have been apart from each other on a daily basis for three years now and I know that they miss each other. Brianna is stationed in California and Shannon is stationed in Italy. The one thing I find intriguing with my daughters now is that they do a lot of things the same, even though they are oceans apart. They each married within two weeks of each other and neither of them told one another their plans. They both have similar aviation jobs and take the same exact vitamins. When Shannon went through a physically demanding Navy SERE (Search, Escape, Resistance, and Evasion) school, Brianna complained of lower back pains. Come to find out, Shannon was experiencing severe back pains from her survival school. When one of them calls me, the other will call me either that same day or the next. Neither has the knowledge that the other twin had called me. They still seem to have a very strong connection as they did when they were younger. The only difference now is that they are separated by over 6,000 miles.
My twins are alike in many ways, but they differ as far as their personalities, demeanor and some of their physical characteristics. It was a blessing for me to have these two wonderful daughters. I never referred to them as “double trouble” as some twin mothers would say. My reference as to having two babies at once was “twice as nice” and “more to love.”

Often people have the misconception that identical twins are exactly the same in all aspects. I have first hand account that this is far from the truth, since I have identical twin girls. Another mistaken belief is that people think identical twins are hereditary. I often get asked the question, “Oh, do twins run in your family?” Identical twins only make up one-third of the amount of twins born; the remaining two-thirds are fraternal or maternal, which is hereditary. Identical twins come from one egg and one sperm and for reasons unknown to science, the egg splits into two. My identical twins have a lot of similar physical features and personality traits, but they are far from one and the same.
I found out I was carrying twins when I was six months pregnant. The doctors immediately labeled each twin inside my womb; Baby A and Baby B. I went into labor on Mother’s Day 1987, a few weeks before their expected due date. There were no complications and they were born healthy, thriving baby girls. Baby A, Brianna Michelle came first, weighing five pounds eight and a half ounces. Four minutes later, Baby B, Shannon Marie arrived, weighing in at four pounds fifteen and a half ounces. The only visible differences at birth were their weight. I was able to tell them apart very easily. Prior to their birth, I felt a difference between the two of them inside of me. Baby A, Brianna, was very active in my womb. Baby B, Shannon, was calmer and seemed to take up less space inside of my ever-growing belly. Not knowing this back then, but their activity inside of me did play a part in their personalities growing up.
In their early years, I noticed that Brianna always wanted to be first at everything. If I went to feed them, Brianna wanted her bottle first. If she didn’t get it first, she would gladly tell me with an ear-piercing cry. Shannon was calmer and less demanding. Brianna was very sociable and would hug strangers, whereas Shannon was very clingy to me and followed me everywhere I went. When Brianna was younger, I put little bells on her shoes because she was so active and would often leave my sight. Brianna usually seemed to be the leader of the two of them. Shannon was in front of her sister as far as physical aspects; she crawled first, walked first and spoke the first words.
When my girls were about three years old and learning new words and sentences I noticed some unfamiliar vocabulary. My daughters had developed their own secret language, otherwise known as twin-talk or idioglossia. I thought this was pretty amazing and they did too. When I would ask them what a specific word they said meant, they would just laugh and wouldn’t let me in to their secret little world. About age five, the novelty of their language wore off since they entered school and interacted with other children their own age. I purposely entered them into separate classrooms. I wanted my twins to find their own identities and be able to function without the other one.
At school age, Brianna often got into trouble for being to talkative and bossy. Shannon got into trouble for being too quiet and shy and not interacting enough with the other students. Teachers often wondered why they were so different, but I was happy that they weren’t exactly alike. Their physical appearances were almost identical except for a few features. Shannon was always a bit smaller, but only by a few pounds or a ½ inch in height. Shannon also had a small birthmark under her right eye (which was later removed at age 12). Shannon also had a shade lighter of brown hair and had two hair whorls on the top of her head instead of one like her sister. The funny thing with the girls is each wanted what the other didn’t have. Brianna wanted a birthmark under her eye like her sister. Shannon hers removed to be more like her sister. Brianna used to take my brown eyeliner and make a faux birthmark so they could be equal. Physically, they had the same bad eyesight, same crooked teeth, same voice, and looking at them from the back, you could not decipher which was which. Raising twins was a bit challenging since I had to make everything equal; otherwise they would let me know.
My daughters were the best of friends, but they had somewhat of a love/hate relationship. They were constantly together, day in and day out. But if one of them took a shirt that belonged to the other, the clothing wars began. They were usually inseparable, even though they had their own bedroom they chose to sleep in the same room. Throughout school, their grades were somewhat comparable and they shared the same friends.
Brianna was the first to leave home after high school graduation to attend college. Shannon had enlisted into the Navy in the middle of their senior year, and wasn’t leaving till the fall. This was the first time my twins were separated for any extended length of time from one another. It was very strange for Shannon as well as for me. Brianna ended up going to college for one year. She then decided that she wanted to do something more exciting in her life, so she too enlisted in the Navy.
They have been apart from each other on a daily basis for three years now and I know that they miss each other. Brianna is stationed in California and Shannon is stationed in Italy. The one thing I find intriguing with my daughters now is that they do a lot of things the same, even though they are oceans apart. They each married within two weeks of each other and neither of them told one another their plans. They both have similar aviation jobs and take the same exact vitamins. When Shannon went through a physically demanding Navy SERE (Search, Escape, Resistance, and Evasion) school, Brianna complained of lower back pains. Come to find out, Shannon was experiencing severe back pains from her survival school. When one of them calls me, the other will call me either that same day or the next. Neither has the knowledge that the other twin had called me. They still seem to have a very strong connection as they did when they were younger. The only difference now is that they are separated by over 6,000 miles.
My twins are alike in many ways, but they differ as far as their personalities, demeanor and some of their physical characteristics. It was a blessing for me to have these two wonderful daughters. I never referred to them as “double trouble” as some twin mothers would say. My reference as to having two babies at once was “twice as nice” and “more to love.”

It was a hot and dry day sailing through the Gulf of Oman. The last day of March was unusually scorching for this time of year. There were 146 of us onboard, merchant marines and U.S. Navy sailors combined. We were killing time in the gulf waiting for the aircraft carrier USS Kennedy to make its way towards us so we could offload their monthly supplies.
I happened to be up on the 2nd deck when I spotted something odd in the water approaching our ship. It was a common site to see cattle floating in the seas near the Middle East. As the object moved closer, I realized it wasn’t a cow or farm animal.
I notified the bridge and signal men onboard that something out of the ordinary was in the waters. After a few minutes I could hear and feel our engines come to a sudden halt. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was a person in the water and it was evident that this lost soul was not alive. Floating 50 yards behind was another body, then another.
Our ship sounded two sharp blasts from their horn. Everyone onboard knew what that sound meant – man overboard. We were looking for survivors, wreckage, some clues to what had happened here in the middle of the ocean. The closest land was over 100 miles away. We asked each other, “What happened here?” “Where did these people come from?” No one knew the answers to these questions. We stood by in disbelief, waiting for direction from the U.S. Fleet Admiral in that operating arena.
As the hours went by more bodies kept appearing. That evening we received notification from the 6th fleet commander that we had to retrieve these bodies from the water. We knew our ship didn’t have the resources for this kind of operation, plus we only had two body bags onboard. What were we to do with all these people? As the crew scurried together we started the planning stages of this unusual rescue.
We had two SAR (search and rescue) swimmers onboard our ship and we had one RIB (Ready Inflatable Boat). As a supply ship, we transfer pallets of food and supplies from the warehouses on the pier by use of heavy duty cranes. We used these cranes to lower a pallet to the waterline. Our SAR swimmers in the RIB boat would then guide the deceased on top of the pallet with makeshift hooks. The crane hoisted up the pallet one body at a time up to the main deck. I was one of those people on main deck who guided the bodies from the pallet into a plastic-lined tri-wall (a huge corrugated container used for supply shipments).
There were a few onboard that could not stomach the site or smell of this catastrophe we stumbled across. My bunkmate Charlene scolded me, “Do not come into this room with your boots on after you’re done fishing out those bodies.” I told her, “We are wearing protective gear, even over our boots.” That answer was not good enough for her. I had a technician that worked for me in our shop, a big burly sailor. He tells me, “I’m sorry but I cannot help, this whole situation is making me sick, literally.” About one-half of the ships personnel volunteered; working long shifts during this ordeal. For those who didn’t volunteer they were not looked down upon nor reprimanded. This was not an easy task for anyone.
The stench was atrocious; the site of these people was surreal. The bodies had to of been in the waters for well over a week. Some of the bodies were so chewed up that it took several attempts to push the body onto a pallet. Innards were falling out of their mid-sections. Some were unrecognizable because pieces were missing. A few had bullet holes through their foreheads.
Day two we had retrieved 37 bodies from the sea. The majority of the casualties were women, one was a child. This was probably one of the hardest things for me. I turned to my shipmate Trish and told her, “My goodness this child is the same size as my four-year old son back at home.” “Who did this horrible thing to these poor people?” None of us knew the answers at this time. We were just following orders and doing what we thought was right.
These people lay in these tri-walls until we could pull into a port in Djibouti, Africa. The next day we received official word that we had to put the dead back into the ocean. No country wanted us to bring the deceased into their port. A proper burial at sea was to be given for these people otherwise they would be considered martyrs. All of us who worked so diligently to get them out of the water, now had to put them back into the sea. We were all frustrated and tired.
The 3rd day we had official visitors fly onboard. Several corpsmen brought body bags, a few Navy Chaplains, psychologists to help us through our ordeal, and a couple Muslim religious figures. They were here for support and also for the proper burial.
Next step was taking these people out of the tri-walls and putting them into body-bags. We were thankful these people were in the plastic. We had to scavenge for heavy weights to load down the body bags so they would not float when they went back into the sea. All the bodies were lined up on the flight deck on the starboard side of the ship. The interrupted delivery of USS Kennedy’s supplies still wait on the port side during this ordeal. The temperature was about 125 degrees Fahrenheit and rising.
We had a memorial service for these lost souls. There was a lot of religious chanting that none of us could understand; but we respected it for these people. We found out later they were victims of piracy. These people were Yemenis’ paying their fares to have a better life in Somalia. Instead they met their ultimate death on an overloaded boat. Unfortunately this happens quite frequently over in that area of the world.
This experience will live with me forever. It hit deep within me that life is so fragile, isn’t to be taken for granted, and can come to an undignified and unfortunate end in the blink of an eye.

Well it’s been one week since I started my South Beach Diet and found this site and joined up. I must say that ALL of you have been such an inspiration to me and so supportive. I couldn’t of done this alone. You all have opened up and shared your stories and have got me thinking about how and why we do the things we do! I know that we all have our reasons for being overweight, either health or emotional issues or just being lazy. I can honestly say that all three of those reasons above play a part in my weight problem. I wasn’t an overweight child, in fact I was quite athletic. At age 17, I joined the Navy and I had to stay in shape. I think my weight problem started after having my first child, age 20. I was bedridden for a portion of my pregnancy due to having an emergency appendectomy at 7 1/2 months. Then at age 24, I was bedridden for the last 2 1/2 months of my pregnancy with my twin girls. At age 31, I had my last child and didn’t have any complications. I also have had numerous abdominal surgeries. During all this time I also continued to serve in the Navy, did that for 21 years. I think my biggest problem with eating and doing the rollercoaster weight gains was because I was always on the go. So I would grab anything to eat and stuff it in my mouth. I had to keep in shape in the military due to requirements, but it sometimes was a struggle. I have been out of the military for 6 years now and I know I packed on a few pounds due to stress (went through a bitter divorce), work, health reasons and sometimes being lazy or having an “I don’t care” attitude. During my marriage and raising my kids, I always put “them” first, never me. Their health of course was more important than mine. NO NO NO!  In the last couple years, I have learned to start caring about ME. Trust me, it has been a struggle within me to make myself #1. I have had to realize and learn how to actually care about me, I never knew how to do this. I was realizing this after I dated someone shortly after my divorce. This man was no better than my ex-husband, he was meaner, drunker and more abusive. Finally one day, after the last punch, my dear friend Bekah (now passed away) said to me, “What are you doing?” If you don’t go down to the courthouse tomorrow, I will be dragging your butt down there.” She made me realize that I don’t have to put up with any of that abuse. It started to “hit” me, then I started to put standards on myself and the people I associated and that I didn’t have to be a victim. I chose to be a victim, but I now chosse NOT to be one. Then I met Jon…….