Holiday Revelation: Kim Stover’s Story

by Kim Stover
Photo by Lisa Hermes, graphic art by Jennifer Harrity


I’m sitting here, two years post-op, looking at my Christmas tree and my fully decorated home. I love this time of the year with all of its glitter and sparkle. There was a time when putting up all of this holiday stuff was a pain in my backside, literally.

During the first year after WLS, I was constantly asked, “Don’t you find that you have so much more energy now that you’ve lost so much weight?” My response was, “Not so much…I’m just cold now”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I was a great super morbidly obese person and if it wasn’t for all of the diseases that I was developing, I’d still be that 373 pound gal. My energy was great and the weight never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. Key word being “wanted”. Did I want to enter a 5k race? Nope. Did I want to climb the stairs instead of take the elevator? Nope. But other than the obvious, I was a very capable person and did whatever my heart desired.

As the weight came off after my WLS, I continued on with my daily activities. I truly didn’t notice any difference in my energy levels since the weight was coming off at a gradual and steady pace. Then the Christmas Revelation came. Last year, I pulled out all of my Christmas storage boxes that were chock full of decorations. The biggest box stored my artificial tree, which was always a pain to assemble, but was always worth the effort in the end. I started with the tree. Up it went…faster than normal and I wasn’t nearly as irritated by the entire process. Hmm. I must just be getting better at assembling this thing. Then the 500 lights had to be clipped on the branches. This took me a couple of hours in the past, as I’d usually need a break in between strings. That break would usually include some holiday cheer…hot cocoa with marshmallows and some homemade cookies. Then I’d slip into a sugar coma and wake up groggy only to be faced with the rest of the lights that still needed to go on the tree. Well, this time it was different. The lights went up lickity-split. Clearly, I missed something? No, the entire tree is covered. Hmm. The rest of the process followed suit and I was done decorating in about an hour and a half. Prior to WLS, this project was an all day thing. Then it hit me. I had more energy and was more able bodied to do the decorating. Since this was a once a year event, it was very obvious to me how my weight loss was now affecting my life. Yeah for me!

Since that Christmas, I’ve reveled in the things that only occur once a year. These are the events when I get to notice what a difference being 228 pounds lighter is all about. The Christmas Revelation was my first and most favorite. It is what I’m reflecting on as I sit here this year enjoying my holiday home. The joy of living life after WLS.