Chewing The Fat

There have been many moments in my life of late, when I am the fattest person in the room. I look around and think, "How could I have let this happen?"

I don't know the answer to this question. But as my weight has climbed higher and higher, I think back to when I was in second grade and we had just moved to Seattle from California I met my best friend Cathy.

Debra and Me on the porch, Donovan Street, 1969
(I couldn't find a picture of Cathy and Me together)

I had been known for chewing five pieces of gum at one time and my new teacher caught me... I mean, that isn't something my little eight-year old mouth could have hidden anyway. My punishment was to put that plum-sized wad of gum on the end of my nose and stand at the front of the room, facing all my new classmates. Not a good first week.

As it turned out, Cathy and I lived on the same street in South Park (South Seattle.) I was in the middle and she was across the street at the end of the block. 1025 South Donovan Street. I have no idea why I still remember our address.

But that was how I met Cathy. She became my friend that day. Rescued me, really. later that year when I was caught talking in class, it didn't hurt quite so much to keep my mouth pressed to the chalk lips the teacher had drawn on the board. I had my best friend at my back.

I spent a lot of time at Cathy's house. Her mom often took us on little adventures. We visited the Lummi Nation Reservation (http://www.lummi-nsn.org/website/index2.html), The King County Court House in Seattle, Woodland Park Zoo (http://www.zoo.org/), as well as many other places. She was awesome, and fun and weighed about 300 pounds.

Claudia was the biggest person I knew at that time, she was nice to me... she wasn't a villain like Jabba the Hut, or Fat Bastard or Ursula the Sea Witch. She was very nice and she was a very involved mom to her three children.

Cathy's mom and dad were both full blown diabetics, as was Cathy. Their fridge was full of those tiny clean insulin bottles, there were needles in every room, and there must not have been much in the way of nutrition counseling for them. All Cathy ever said about it was that she couldn't eat candy.

Their reality was that food was a huge issue. Anything that should have been refrigerated was on the counter, as if it was in the process of being converted into meals at every moment of the day. Bread, Mayo, cheese, meats, deserts, candy. The table was littered with food and swarmed with flies. No diet anything in sight. Full sugared pop was the drink of choice... They had a closet full of Coke.

Cathy wasn't happy about the situation and she often renewed a vow to never, ever be like her parents. As much as I liked her mom, we agreed to never be fat. I vowed in solidarity, even though Claudia always included me in all the family fun. I didn't totally understand why Cathy was so against their lifestyle... we always played at her house and her parents were always nice.

And yet here I am today, despite my vow, fighting my way back from almost 300 pounds, the supposed sinister weight of my best friend's mom.

I don't know if Claudia fought valiantly or gave up because it is hard to say no to food. I don't have my food sitting on the counter, ready to eat, but sometimes it is very difficult to ignore it calling me from the fridge if I am bored, lonely, upset, celebrating... any emotional reason to eat.

After two weeks of Serving Size Summer, I am very happy with the results. I have had my mishaps and miscalculations but I have had more successes.

Despite the mean teacher, I still chew gum... and can chomp away when I am concentrating or trying not to eat more food. It also calms my nerves in social situations. Think of gum as my therapy pet. I promise it won't shed.