Dear Thinner Me

Dear Thinner Me,

Hi, it’s me, the fatter you. I hope you are well; I hope you are doing better than well! I wanted to ask you - what’s it like climbing a flight of stairs without getting out of breath by the top? I bet it feels good! Are you enjoying going into normal clothing stores and being able to find something that not only fits you but looks good too? Does it feel good to walk in the mall and not have people staring at you or giving you dirty looks? I bet that feels great! What’s it like having a lot of energy now? And your feet not hurting if you have to stand up for more than 40 minutes?

Hey, remember how we had that dream, that one night our freshman year? That dream about running? I’ve been thinking about that dream a lot. I remember how we ran and ran. And how we were LAUGHING as we ran, having the breath to not only keep going but to laugh with joy as we ran. I remember how it felt, our legs carrying us forward, mile after mile, with no sign of letting up, no sign of giving out or stopping. We felt so free and alive! Knowing we could go anywhere, knowing our legs would take us anywhere we wanted to go. We could go anywhere, on the power of our own steam. Do you remember waking up from that dream? The joy, the feeling of being free and alive, how it lingered with us …for a moment.

I remember how we almost started crying when we realized it was just a dream. And that we really couldn’t run, not like that, not ever. We’d never in our lives been able to run like that, not even when we where a kid, because we weighed 250 lbs by the time we where in jr high and we got out of breath after running a block. And we certainly could not run like that our freshman year when our 5’4” frame was already carrying over 300 lbs. I think our heart broke a little bit that night, waking up from that dream.

But, Thinner Me, I hope run you now. I hope you are a RUNNER! I hope you run every day - For every day that we can’t! And when you run, I hope you laugh. I hope you laugh for me, for both of us. Because you finally can.

I can’t wait to meet you! I know you’re going to be glorious!

~Me