My parents both lost a lot of weight over the last couple months.
My dad's six feet tall and he dropped at least 20 pounds in the hospital. He's way too skinny. But now that he's home, he'll start gaining weight. There's always lots of good food around and he and Betty both love sweets.
And my mom probably fretted away 10 pounds. She's a little taller than me, and tiny. She looked great before. And now she looks great but a little too thin. Which, in my world, is positive. It means leeway.
A few weeks ago, when my dad was still in the hospital, the Director went with me one evening to meet him. We hung out with my dad a bit and my mom arrived for the tail end of our visit. So he got to meet both my dad and Betty at once.
We left and he remarked on how thin both my parents are. I said my dad had gotten shockingly skinny in the hospital, and that Betty had dropped weight as well.
And then I said, "But it's OK, because they were both getting a little fat."
It was as if I'd turned into one of Hell's minions. If I'd suddenly morphed into George W. Bush he could not have looked at me with more shock, horror, or disgust.
"God, Lisa! Your dad is 70 years old! Give him a break. Let the man weigh whatever he wants to!"
I felt like such a jerk. I know it sounded awful, but I didn't mean, hey, this has been a great way to drop a couple pounds! Or that I was picking on them about weight. And so I explained that they'd both been talking about having put on weight over the last year and wanting to drop a couple pounds. They'd both been exclaiming that their clothes were a little tight.
I may be weight obsessed and judgemental, but I'm not downright evil. At least, not very often.
And so, looking on the bright side, now they can have cake every day if they want! There's weight to be gained! How often are you in the position where you have to gain weight?
Cake! Cake for breakfast! Peanut M&Ms for a snack! Chocoloate milkshakes with lunch! Tryst blended chai for dessert! Anyway, that's how I'd approach it.
Mmmmmmm,cake.
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