Pass the Cupcake!

When I was growing up I was an average size kid. I was not too skinny and not too fat. I didn't play any sports in grade school or high school but in the summer time I had my sister, 3 male cousins, one female cousin and later a couple more cousins and a brother and we always were very active over the summer and would go to the school down the street from our house and play basketball, kickball, baseball, softball, we rode our bikes to the creek almost daily, we were always moving. We even played tennis at the park and if the tennis courts were full we would swing on the other side in the playground and run around playing tag. Of course back then there was no internet, TV was very different, no cable, no video games except maybe pac man or the other ones they had at the bowling alley where we bowled when we had the money to rent the shoes and the lanes. No cell phones back then we had one phone that was in our houses and everyone got calls on that one phone. Our parents usually answered that one phone to screen our calls and in my house you had to be off the phone by 9pm on the weekdays and by 10pm on the weekends or whatever time my said to get off. That all depended if she wanted to use the phone or not. And in my house you couldn't talk too loud on the phone either if she could hear you in the living room and you were in the bedroom that was too loud. And for the life of her she could not understand why we had to call the person we just saw ten seconds ago the minute we got in the house.

So, when I was in probably my late 20's I put on a few pounds because I was not as active as I was as a kid. Life changed. I still had a pretty physical job where I didn't sit down much and was always pushing, pulling and shelving things at the library but failed in comparison to the long summer days where we would ride our bikes from sun up to sundown all over the city. So, that was the start of the extra pounds for me and it had not gone unnoticed by my mom or grandmother. Mind you I was never a size 0, there is nothing wrong with that if that is the size you are but I never was, back then they I probably was no bigger then a size 10 but my grandmother opted to tell me about some weight loss place and immediately suggested I should diet and my mom used to say that I was getting too fat. She was just blunt. No sugar coating. Mostly I ignored it and gave them the evil eye and kept going. After all I didn't know what to say or how to say it. At least not respectfully. So, I just didn't say anything.

Over the years I put on more weight, took it off, put it back on and so on and so on. I have just now "discovered" that making healthy decisions about what I put in my mouth does make a difference and being more active makes a big difference. Now, I just have o make an effort to do it. Back then I just did it to hang out with my friends and family.

So, when my friend told me that her dad was gaining weight and her mom kept calling him fat I felt his pain cause I been there. But, he had the best come back. He said he is old, he is dying of cancer, he might as well be as fat as he wants and eat what he wants so pass the dam cupcake.