17 Comments

Meet me in soup . This all kills me

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💛💛💛

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So beautifully described. Her pain is palpable and heartbreaking.

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Fat can be very personal!

Please let the mom stuff go!

It has to have been for you to learn some life lessons!

Just saying.. forgive and fly

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Children are so funny. We play along with whatever game the adults need us to play, because they define our world. We don't know anything other than whatever game they set in front of us.

We get older. We look back. We think, "Well that was actually pretty weird, maybe even unhealthy." If we're able though, we can just have our own secret smile, and our feelings of love and compassion for our parents grow, rather than pathologize.

Your story made me reflect on my own similar experiences. Strong marks of a good human story. Thank you for that.

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Made me chuckle but of course body dysmorphia,at it’s worst,can be fatal.

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Older and Wider: Yep, the blessings of an aging body, combined with a tincture of down to earth humor to help bridge the experience. Thank you!

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Fab! I love these strange, oblique memories that comprise childhood — and I love your sharp, succinct descriptions.

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Many women need to be aware...men do not have the societal pressures that women do. How would you feel if you had spent your entire life thinking you were the cause of your heavy thighs only to find out it is a genetic issue handed down by your mom?

I think your limited understanding of the issues is telling, demeaning, and time you stopped the criticism and did some research.

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I am well aware of the social pressure on women to be thin, I've lived a life under it, in it, navigating around it, trying to transcend it. Anyway, I don't know how you get that my understanding is limited or that I was being critical. I meant to tell the story about my mom with compassion. I mean, I guess it is a bit critical, it was crazy how she drew me into her neurosis, even though I totally understand how she had that type of neurosis. I internalized all of this. But again, it's meant mostly with compassion. I have so many other really terrible stories about my mom, I thought this was one more on the kinder side! Anyway, maybe it is demeaning. It's also funny and comedy is always at least a little bit cruel. That's a whole other topic! Anyway, I take your criticism of the piece and I hope I retain you as reader, Jaci. xoxo

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I think your defensiveness is telling; you should talk to someone about the guilt and shame you clearly feel as it's likely been coloring your view of more than just the childhood memories of another.

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Men have plenty of societal pressures, we just don't have any empathy for them.

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Do some research on the fat woman's disease...lipedema

Go to lipedema-symplified and read how women (11%) in US have a genetic hormonal issue that has been kept from the public. See how Apple redlines the word like it is misspelled. Docs are not trained.

It leads to other co-morbidities.

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Dear goddess — this was a comic remembrance not a prelude to a medical analysis.

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Thank you for saying that. I thought I was going crazy thinking, "what didn't I get?"

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Welcome to non sequitur-ville. 😂

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Easy to say...I have no guilt and shame is only from the judgements of the unaware.

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