The tale of Mr. O and his scissors

When I was about eight years old, I was a “big girl.” My mother used to buy all of my clothes at Freeman’s Youth Center in New Jersey and the owner, Mr. O, knew us well. He also knew to cut the size labels out of anything that my mother bought for me because my size included the letter “X”.

I think my mother and Mr. O thought that I would figure out that my clothes were for plus sized girls and neither of them wanted to upset me. My mother did it to preserve my self-esteem…Mr. O probably went along with it to preserve the sale.

The funny thing about this is the fact that I didn’t realize that I was a “big girl” and probably wouldn’t have noticed that my size 8x dress was different than a size 8 dress. It wasn’t until I was a teenager and had become a “tall drink of water” that my mother revealed this piece of information to me.

Before joining Weight Watchers, I was shopping in the “big girl” department again. However, Mr. O. was long gone, and I was cutting the labels out of my own clothes. The “X” factor bugged me, and I kept imagining the scene where I was in an accident and the doctors found out the size of my clothing.

It’s weird how some stuff stays with you, basically forever. I don’t want to go back to hiding the truth…I want to control my weight.

Talk to you soon.