Thin May Be In, But Fat’s Where It’s At

“…Superman and Green Lantern, Baby, ain’t got nothin’ on me…”

Gita, gently floating up out of a snuggly pre-waking cloud, smiled to herself.

“That’s just how I feel,” she thought. “Nobody’s got nothin’ on me!”

The alarm clock, getting a bit puckish because Gita had not responded appropriately to it’s gentle music, now began sending out an insistent beep-beep-beep. Gita sighed and got out of bed to cross the room and turn off the clock. She didn’t really want to, but she knew that the next thing that ornery alarm would do is let loose foghorn sounds. When that happened, the neighbors tended to become perturbed.

That’s when it happened and the mood of the morning changed. Gita caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she padded across the room towards the offensive clock. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her reflection. What the mirror showed her was so dramatically different from the image she held in her mind, that it brought her up short – again.

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!! blared the clock, and Gita rushed to turn it off and then, with a reluctant fascination, returned to the mirror. She looked at her face. Then she turned sideways.

“UGH”, she thought, and hurried into the bathroom to shower away the image.

That morning, Gita met up with a friend she hadn’t seen in over a year.

“Bennie!”

They hugged and Bennie took a step back and patted his stomach ruefully.

“I’ve put on some weight since you saw me last!”

Gita grimaced as she waved off his comment. “I’m the last person in the world to EVER comment on someone’s weight. Now let’s go inside and catch up.”

Later that day, in the course of another conversation, someone made a comment about ‘fat’ people. Gita objected to the characterization.

“Hang on there – you’re hitting too close to home for me!” she said with a laugh. “Don’t go talking about fat people around ME!”

The other folks sitting around looked at her with a lost look. Gita looked back with an expectant grin. “Well?”

Ken spoke up first. “I’ve never thought of you as fat”, he said.

Gita changed the subject quickly. A discourse on the extra 100 or so pounds she was carrying around was the last thing she wanted to engage in at that point.

Later that night, at that time when the demons come to haunt you, Gita called a friend for the comfort and reassurance of another voice.

Somehow, the conversation worked its way around to weight. “Good grief!” thought Gita.

“Well”, said Ponch. If your weight makes you unhappy, why don’t you do something about it?”

“Good question. Wish I had the answer.”

“Can I tell you something?”

Gita flinched. “Sure”

“You don’t have the attitude of a fat person.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You are confident, outgoing, and make no excuses”.

“Oh. Thanks, I guess.”

Shortly, Gita hung up the phone and lay down to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come. Memories kept running through her head. She remembered her ‘glory’ days (the thin ones) and how she could always get an offer of a dance, a drink, or a rendezvous every time she went out. She smiled at the memories. Then she thought of the last time she had gone out with one of her friends. The friend, who was petite, had been fawned over and talked to all night. Gita had been treated as if she were a piece of furniture. She had tried to tell herself it was OK, because she had put on so much weight that she was probably graceless on the dance floor. But oh, she loved to dance…..

That night Gita fell asleep reminding herself that she was a beautiful person inside, that outward appearance doesn’t matter, that she shouldn’t let herself get down… She ran her favorite mantra over and over in her head: “I am alive to the joy of living. I deserve and accept the very best in life. I love and approve of myself.”

Her last thought, as she drifted off to sleep, was……”yeah, right”.