Tanya,
You are right, poems of a big girl would be a pretty good seller. I had a prof my freshman year who called me aside to his office and told me I had to get rid of my negative image and stop writing poetry that wasn’t nice to myself. I tried not to be negative about it. I think for a book of big girl poems to work, I would have to make it real empowering! As you can imagine, it is a little difficult for me not to be a smart ***.
Sounds like Cammy had a great time! How nice of them to be so great with the kids!! My heart goes out to you and your husband and of course little Cammy for all you are going through. Keep us all updated on his progress!
My brother is the one who was trached. He had a brain bleed at 15. It was really unexplained—which is the scary part. Now he is 21 and ready to leave the nest! He walks with a cane and has really bad balance, and of course a few other little things. His speech isn’t quite the same, he switched from right to left handed, and he still writes with a shaky terrible handwriting. He is nervous, we all are. I really hope he can do this!
Here is a sample of some of my old writing. I know, it is not the real uplifting stuff you are supposed to post on here, but I think it speaks a little to people who are in the same boat like we are. I hope no one is offended!! :
Diet Diet Revolution!
I hesitate in the parking lot, as I often do. Staring at the building before climbing out of my car and walking in as briskly as possible.
Weight Watchers is in bold red letters in the middle of the strip mall, right between Radio Shack and that all-you-can-eat buffet. I figure when people see me walking up, they probably make bets on which door I’ll go through, I am sure no one ever guesses it will be Radio Shack.
Once inside the building the thin employees greet me, I have been coming long enough that they all know my name; I can’t remember theirs for the life of me. In order to work at weight watchers, you need to reach your goal weight and maintain it. I wonder how they check, I mean, do they weigh in as they punch in for work. If they indulge one weekend and gain that extra pound…are they fired?
I walk up to the counter after getting past the greeter and fill out a little nametag, even the nametag says weight watchers. I find my card and stand in line to get ‘weighed in’ by one of the overly cheerful spokespersons. This time it is a bird-like woman who I know probably joined twelve years ago to lose the extra eight pounds she put on after having her first and only child. She acts as if she has been there before, and I smile at her sweetly because strangling her would be impolite. “How was your week?” She asks, a parrot. I smile and say good. I listen to the other women around me responding to the same situation by going into a twenty-minute speech about their eating and exercise habits. No wonder this process takes so long.
I take off my shoes, because you weigh less without your shoes, and then I remove my wallet, keys, cell phone and any loose change in my pockets for the same reason. I didn’t wear earrings today on purpose. “Good job!” the bird-woman squeaks and claps her hands, as if she really cares, “You are down 1.6 pounds this week!” I smile and try to seem excited about the miniscule loss. I hand her the twelve-dollar weekly fee and try not to think about how much I could be saving if I stopped coming to these God-awful events.
If you have never been to a Weight Watchers location, you probably don’t know that they keep the meeting room hidden behind a wall. I am sure all those chairs filled with overweight people is not the image they want to portray to the public eye. The meeting starts when the leader comes in and greets everyone like it is a cheerleader reunion. I glance around the room filled with fellow pathetic souls and realize I am at least twenty years younger than everyone else here. Great.
First the leader claps her hands and asks everyone in the room how their week went. We all share our stories of triumph and failure, clap our hands some more—there seems to be a lot of that, perhaps it burns calories. Then the product placement begins. Did you know AppleBee’s now has a Weight Watchers menu? Have you tried our 2-point bars? Only $1.50 a piece! Don’t forget the twenty-three dollar ‘getting started’ pack that has everything you need to be successful in your weight loss journey. If you have trouble using the paper journal you get every week with your membership, try buying the monthly journals right here in our lobby. Smoothies, candies, cookbooks, food scales, exercise tapes, planners, carrying cases, pedometers, jump ropes, bracelets, the official magazine, and anything else one needs to lose weight successfully.
After half an hour of talking, trading ideas and recipes, and learning the weekly lesson, we all waddle out, a newfound sense of ability. I get in my car and drive home, another week, another meeting. I could have joined the Atkins revolution, or Jenny Craig, LA Weight Loss Center, South Beach Diet, Dr. Phil, E-diets, Hydroxicut, Slim Fast, The Zone, or good old Bulimia, but they’re all the same. My leader tells us to visualize our goal and it will help us make the right choices throughout the week. When I close my eyes, I imagine a Monday night where I don’t have to walk through that door.
Ok back to the bump and grind,
Dusty
