I slept last night and for the first time in weeks the alarm clock woke me. I felt like I could have slept about 12 more hours, but I’m happy with what I got. It’s a start.
I had dinner with my mom last night and I’m really getting tired of her. Please don’t get me wrong, I love my mother. It’s just that we carpool in the morning, walk from the train into work, she works for the same company as me so I see her at work, we walk to the train after work, and carpool home. It’s enough. There’s only so much you can talk to your mom about. I’ve run out of things to say. She was nagging me this morning because I was moody (WTF?). I have never been full of sunshine and happiness in the morning. Ever. If I have to have an alarm clock wake me up, then I’m pissy for about an hour or two. If I wake up naturally (or awoken to do something like have sex or go on vacation or something fun like that) then I’m perfectly delightful. She should know this. What I really need on these mornings is peace and quiet and time to bond with my cup of coffee.
So, we’re at dinner (Applebee’s, her choice, yuck!) and I noticed that there was an enormous number of enormous people dining. I know that there is an obesity epidemic going on in this country, but apparently my head has been up my ass because I’m just starting to notice that there are a whole lotta giant people out there. I’m not talking a little chubby, I mean huge/killing themselves/buffet eating people.
I’ve always been concious of my weight. I’ve been sickly skinny to kinda fat and I’m finally getting to where I’m comfortable with my body, even though I’m by no means thin. But I’m not fat either. But even when I was kinda fat, I was never grossly obese. I could still walk and go up steps and do day to day life without stopping for a rest. It’s amazing to see so many people letting themselves go. I think if you’re having trouble walking on your two feet (something that has separated us humans from the chimps and allowed us to develop the hands we have and thus the brains we have that have allowed us to build the cars we now drive to the drive-thru joints we made with the hands we developed from being upright and walking) then you need to rethink how you’re living your life. We were made to walk. Get up and walk to the store. Take the steps. Park in the back of the parking lot and walk. Unless you are disabled or elderly, I don’t feel sorry for you when you’re having trouble walking. And to me, being obese is not a disablity–it’s a choice. I worry about these obese people. Don’t they know they are killing themselves? And please don’t take these opinions as me making fun of obese people. I wouldn’t do that. I used to smoke and I know how difficult quitting something that is a stress outlet and an addiction (in a way) can be. And I know that some people have genuine physical problems that can make them more prone to being overweight, so go to the doctor and do something about it. You’ll feel better.
All that being said, I like myself with a few extra pounds. I’m too tall and broad and my breasts are too big for me to be too skinny. I’ve been there and I look unhealthy. I also like looking like a woman and not a teenaged girl. And as long as my bloodwork is perfect, which it is, than fuck it. You will never hear me saying I’m on a diet. I need butter. I need ice cream. I need chocolate. I need pasta and bread. I could die tomorrow and if I denied myself these wonderful things I would be one of those restless spirits haunting the earth, unsatisified. Instead of looking for my lost love or something romantic like that, I’d be searching for hunk of Italian bread. I think the key to enjoying life and food is moderation. This isn’t a new concept. You all know what I’m talking about. You don’t have to eat the whole plate of food or get a large ice cream cone or eat the whole loaf of bread. It’s not about how much you eat, it’s about how you eat it. I’m a slow eater. I savor each bite. I know I get on people’s nerves when I eat, but I don’t care. I hate eating in a hurry or on the go. I set the table for myself every night (when I cook) and eat slowly, in silence. It’s nice. But the good thing about eating slow is that it gives my stomach enough time to tell my brain when I’m getting full, so I don’t tend to overeat. Except at Thanksgiving or my favorite Italian restuarant (I swear they put crack in the food, can’t stop eating when I’m there). I’m also a big believer in eating non-processed foods. I like fresh. I like organic. I like veggies and fruit and nuts and grains and things that have never been in a factory. If I cook you dinner, you can be sure it will be from stratch using fresh ingredients.
So, I eat what I want most of the time. And I don’t mind the fullness of my body. I think there are many women who are afraid of that fullness. I’m not anymore. The only thing that really annoys me about my body is my belly, but there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s heredity. My dad’s mother’s whole side of the family had bellies. And these were small, skinny people. My grandmother was 4’10”. I remember being super super skinny and still having a belly. I’ve done (and do) hundreds of situps, cut carbs, did cardio, lifted weights, pilates, yoga…everything and I still have a belly. I’m starting to embrace the belly and come to terms with the fact that I will never be one of those women with a perfectly flat stomach. It’s not the end of the world. We all have that one thing we’d like to change about ourselves. That’s mine.
I’m going to leave you with a funny story because I can’t have a completely serious post. Not when I’m celebrating the fact that I slept through the night.
Background of story: I worked in the children’s department of Sears for five years (age 17-22) and this story takes place in the girl’s department, I was 18. I remember this everytime I walk into Sears and last night was no different.
I was putting clothes away from the fitting room and straightening the department. It was a good night. I was wearing a new outfit and a pair of new fabulous shoes that I bought the day before in the shoe department. Believe it or not, sometimes you can find a really pretty pair of shoes in Sears. So, I’m fixing everything and I stepped back to walk around a rack and it felt like I stepped on a article of clothing or something like that. I looked down and saw that it wasn’t clothing, but a huge pile of shit. Yes, shit. Human adult pile of shit. I screamed and gagged and vomited right there next to the shit. I then took my shoe off and screamed to one of the ladies working that night that someone took a huge shit on the floor. I walked barefoot into the bathroom and rinsed my mouth and splashed my face and got myself together. I was crying pretty hard. It’s not easy to recover from stepping in poop…indoors. By the time I get back to the department, there were a bunch of managers there and the janitor is cleaning up. I apologize about my puking and the janitor said, “Girl, I would have puked too.” I ask the manager if I could leave and he said no. There isn’t anyone to cover me. I tell him I can’t put that shoe on. He tells me to go clean it off. So, I lose it. I start screaming about how they’re going to give me a new pair of shoes and didn’t any of those motherfucking cameras they have all over catch anyone squatting down to take a fucking shit and if they had, how come nobody came over here to take that fucking pig down. I was screaming all of this in the children’s department. There were people all over the place. The manager was mortified. In the end, I got a new pair of shoes, a gift certificate for $100 to keep my mouth closed, and a funny story. What made the night even more classic was that immediately after I finished screaming my mother and stepdad were stepping off of the escalator and upon hearing the story said, “Well Debbie, shit happens.” I didn’t find this funny.
Have a great day!
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