How much do I weigh? Who cares. It's just a number - - - not who I am!

No confusion, I'm on the left and Twiggy is on the right!



As a teen ager during the 60's I was tormented by the likes of Twiggy whose measurements were 31-22-32.  We will not discuss mine.  One of the boys at church used to tease me and call me fatty and as I look back I don't think he meant to be mean but I had probably talked about being so fat and he chose to remind me fairly often.  I think he actually had a crush on me but I can't imagine that since, let's face it, I was no Twiggy. 



Through the years I watched my weight change and my opinion of myself went down when the number on the scale went up.  I wanted to be invisible much of the time and thought covering as much as my body as possible would make certain that no attention was drawn to me and my size. 


Through the years - 1968,
1991, 1984, 1998

In December 1978 we lived in Kalamazoo Michigan.  Roger took us on a business trip to Puerto Rico.  We stayed for two weeks. I wore double knit long pants the entire time - even on the beach.
In 1995, the year Roger died, I started going to the gym and actually paying attention to what I ate . . . I lost 93 pounds and was looking good (although still not Twiggy-like).  During the next 15 or so years I gradually went up 50 pounds, lost some, gained some, lost some - but never got back to my highest weight.  During that time, however, I did many of the activities that I had missed out on in my younger days because I was "too fat" - hiking, dancing, swimming, etc. etc.  I discovered during those years that I had come to realize that my weight did not define me! 

So now, in 2014, I am still 30-35 pounds over my lowest weight in the mid 1990's.  But I am back in the gym, I am still smiling, I am still eating way too much junk . . . I am still me.  I am:  a daughter, a sister, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, twice widowed, a social worker, a friend, a teacher,  a mentor to new and not so new social workers.  I love reading, playing on the computer, doing genealogy, gathering old family stories, making picture books, spending time with friends and family and so much more. I am so much more than the number I see on the scales on the rare occasions I weigh myself - and that is just fine with me.

I know that I am a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me.  This knowledge does define who I am.  This song, "Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God" expresses my feelings.  Please take three minutes and watch and listen...