By 1973 we were meeting in over 40 different areas with close to 200 meetings with a large staff of office workers, lecturers, weighers,
meeting clerks and assorted other business people. We were putting out a
slick monthly  magazine with both Bernie and I writing a column for it.

In
my trips to other franchises I was receiving plaques and being
interviewed on morning TV shows, by local newspapers and being featured
as a model in fashion shows.

I
was doing a lot of charity work including representing Memphis,
Tennessee in New York City for the March of Dimes. Bernie played Santa
while I presented checks, clothes and food for/to children and families
who couldn't afford either.

I
had traveled to South America, gone on cruises, attended the Weight
Watchers gala at Madison Square Garden and the staff had held a special
gathering to honor me and Bernie had the following plaque made for me
representing how the staff felt about me.

I had gone through therapy and had done so well that the therapist, Joe Cassius, asked me if I would
be interested in running one of his groups. All in all my first 4 years
in Memphis couldn't have been better and then, because of what I had
learned in therapy, I made a decision that would change the course of my life. I have very few regrets in life but I was
about to commit the biggest, not because of what I did but because of
the way I did it.