An Amazing Surprise

Saturday afternoon, we were sitting in the convention hall, listening to the speaker when he began talking about the weight management system.  He had everyone who had lost 5 pounds stand up and continued on incrementally until he got to 120 lbs.  Only 7 people were standing at this time, me included.

 He then called us all on stage.  Whaaaat?  I immediately got butterflies in my stomach.  There were over 2000 people in the room.  I slowly  made my way to the stage and up the stairs, trembling all the way.

 I looked around and noticed that I was the only woman.  Hmmm.  The president of Zija then came to each one of us and had us say just one sentence about a difference since we had lost so much weight.  I had no idea what to say so I just said what popped in my head.  "I can now keep up with my little children."  In hindsight, that has made a huge difference in my life.

 He then came back down the line and asked us to tell our names, where we were from and how much we had lost.  One man had lost over 260 lbs!

 All during this time, Paul and my friend Darleen were right up at the stage.  Paul was taking picture after picture and Darleen?  Jumping around like a crazy person!  All along she has been one of my biggest cheerleaders and she couldn't contain herself!

 When we got done introducing ourselves, the vice president took a wad of bills out of his pocket and handed each one of us $700.00.  Yes, $700.00.  I. was. shocked. 

 I came down the stairs to a group of people I didn't know who gave me hugs and high 5's.  Of course, Darleen was right there too, still cheering me on!

It was a surreal experience.  I have replayed it in my mind over and over and am still shocked at how much they gave each of us.  The money is nice (real nice!!) but it's not the real prize.  The real prize is losing 134 lbs. and being able to keep up with my kids.  I was already a winner before I went up on that stage.  Thanks Zija!