project.chameleon

If anyone ever surpasses this compliment, I will marry that person on the spot. Seriously.

I was waiting with my kids this morning, outside the cafeteria (They have to be at school before 8, but if we get there before 7:50, we can't go to the classes! Very frustrating.) when I turned and noticed a mom of one of Steven's classmates. It's important to say here that we had seen each other the previous year several times and spoken more than a handful of times. I smiled and said hello, because I'm so friendly (we all knew this, right?). About two minutes later, she taps me on the shoulder and says, "Are you Steven's mom?"

Wuh?

So I laughed a little nervously and said yes. And she stopped, mouth gaping open, and said, "Oh my God! What have you done to yourself??"

Aha.

So I told her that I'd lost about 45 pounds (lost isn't really the correct term, because I'm definitely not looking for them!). She said that she had recognized my eyes, but thought maybe I was Steven's college-aged sister that she had never met before.

College aged sister!!

She went on and on for the next several minutes, at some point telling me I was a knock-out, and then:

"Oh! But I'm married! Uhm, and I don't like the opposite sex ... but wow!!"

Hmm.

So yes, that's just about the best compliment I've had in a long time. Seeing someone completely flustered and unable to believe that I'm me? Wow. Not something I expected first thing in the morning.

She mentioned that I seemed to have really come out my shell, also. I guess this is true. 45 pounds ago, I felt every ounce of that weight whenever I left the house. I was also emotionally beaten down to the point that I avoided talking to anyone, for fear they might actually want to know more about me. So here I am, a little (heh) lighter emotionally and physically, and feeling more healthy than I have in years. I don't stare at the pavement when I walk down the street anymore.

It's sort of neat to meet people eye to eye. Sort of neat to see my own reflection in store windows and not look away in disgust.

Yep. Sort of neat, indeed.