A Reality Check

I know I blab all the time about loosing weight. But hey, it's not everybody who can say "I lost eighty pounds ~ ON MY OWN!" So therefore, I make few apologies for my boasting. The other day at lunch when I got my food, Smiley said, "Are you gonna eat all that?" "No." Then he said, "You never eat all your food. You eat like a bird." It occurred to me that he has only known me for a few months, therefore he wasn't aware of the eighty pounds or the "eating half" rule. So I explained it to him. "I used to be really fat. But then I stated eating half of what's on my plate and I lost 80 pounds." He and the creepy guy both acted like they didn't believe me, which was sort of cool. Creepy even said, "You weren't ever fat." I had to get Depot Lady to vouch for me. She was trying to be nice, and wouldn't come right out and say "she was fat," but she did get the point across. They were both in shock.

Later on that day, Step-daughter wasn't feeling well and was in my office. We were playing around on the computer, and were running out of websites to visit, so I Googled myself. There were 51 hits for my first and last name together, and low and behold, the third entry was me. That's a weird feeling to Google yourself and actually find yourself. I opened it, and as it turns out, it was an article in the Florida Baptist newspaper. In '04 after Hurricane Charley hit the southwestern portion of Florida, I went with the Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief Team to operate a Temporary Emergency Childcare Center (TECC). Basically, we set up a make-shift daycare for the victims of the hurricane. It was free of charge and available to everyone. The parents were able to drop the kids off and take care of insurance claims, finding new jobs, getting their house cleaned, or go to work (if their workplace was still in operation). Apparently, someone from the paper made my picture while I was putting a wristband on a little girl.

I didn't remember a thing about that until I saw the picture. What was even more shocking that finding myself on Google, was seeing a picture of myself prior to the weight-loss. I've really only seen one picture and it was from the chest up. This picture is a full view of my entire body. Oh my goodness. Every part of my body has shrunk... and drastically. Even my hands. I could hardly believe it. I printed the picture and showed it to a few of the girls at work. The ones who didn't know me then didn't even know it was me. So for your viewing pleasure, here it is, the before and after: