Shannon,

You go, girl! That is truly an amazing scary thing that you did and I take off my hat to you. I couldn't even think of anything close to as courageous as what you did.

This doesn't even come close to your scary thing, but I went to Italy last summer for two weeks with a large group of friends (15 of us in all). I was by far, the heaviest (ok, fattest) person on the trip and as much as I love to travel, I almost said no to the trip because all I could think about was how my weight would hold me back... not to mention squeezing into that airline seat for 7 hours! I knew that every day of the trip would be filled with walking and I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep up. But, guess what? I did it! And I had the best time I've ever had! I roomed with my two teenage neices and what surprised me the most was that they never seemed to view my weight as a concern; we went everywhere! They never took no for an answer and I went everywhere and did everything they did. Even went to an Italian niteclub in Palermo and danced my fat ass off!

Anyway, it was awesome and even though it wouldn't seem like such a big deal to those of a normal weight, I felt like it was a grand accomplishment.

So, there - that's my story. I didn't get any auditions out of it , but I may be invited to go on the next trip!