More hilarious reactions…

­Today I rode my bike to my allergist's office to get my monthly shots.  I was wearing my standard get up these days:  activewear capris and a T-shirt.  I mention what I wore because it's more body hugging than, say, jeans and a shirt so people tend to notice my weight loss more.   

When the nurse took me to the back to get my shots, I heard a familiar voice coming from one of the rooms, a nurse named Seta.  I've known Seta forever but she only works two days a month and I couldn't remember the last time I saw her.  Seta was busy with a patient so I didn't call out to her.  I commented to the nurse giving me the shots that Seta probably wouldn't recognize me anyway because I hadn't seen her in at least two years.  The nurse told me to wait and I heard her say, "Seta, can you come out here for just a second?"  Seta responded that she was with a patient and sounded very annoyed when the other nurse insisted by saying, "It'll just take a second."  

So Seta comes out of the room in a hurried huff and exclaims, "YES?!?!"  Then she stares at me and I just smiled.  Her face showed complete annoyance at the whole situation.  She stared at me for several seconds with an expression I read as, "Who the hell are you 

and what do you want?  I'm busy!" …  and then … suddenly … the recognition came to her face and her expression was absolutely priceless when she realized who was standing in front of her.  Just as I suspected, she didn't recognize me, at least not immediately.  The annoyance left her face and her expression was immediately replaced by surprise and happiness.

She uttered the words I never tire of hearing these days, "You look FANTASTIC!"  She also asked me the question I hear most often now, "How did you do it?"  When people see the end result of my efforts, they sometimes think it was an easy and fast journey.  It was neither.  To them it happened overnight.  Far from it.  My response to this question is always the same, "First of all, it took a long time and it was a lot of work.  I did it by managing my food and exercising regularly."  She said she was proud of me, gave me a quick hug, but had to run back to her patient.

There were two other funny reactions recently from, of all people, two gardeners who work on two of my neighbors' yards.  I mow my own lawn and I used to run into these guys when we ended up working on our respective yards at the same time.  I've been talking to these guys for years, just a hello-and-goodbye type of relationship.  Sometimes we comment on the weather, but that's about it.  We don't even know each other's names.   

Nowadays I'm usually at the gym or in spin class when they arrive so I haven't seen them in many months.  By sheer coincidence, I recently saw both of them during the same week.  They each approached me to say they noticed I had lost a lot of weight and they thought I looked great.  One of them said he saw me but didn't think it was me and figured there was a new owner at my house, but he kept looking at me and realized it was indeed me.  They both independently told me they were happy for me and proud of me.  I find it absolutely hilarious that guys who are busy working on people's yards took the time to notice and, especially, took the time to tell me they noticed.  It was, of course, much appreciated. 

Although I never expect anyone to give me a compliment about anything, I have to admit it's still a huge ego booster to get such recognition/comments from people.  It still surprises me when people have a reaction.  I'm used to seeing myself now so it's kind of old news to me!  But all kidding aside, I find it completely endearing when people tell me they're proud of me.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard that.  More often than not someone is quick to criticize us or ridicule us, it's refreshing to hear people be so happy for me.  Their comments keep me in line, too, because when I lose my way momentarily (which I often do,  even now), I feel guilty that I'm letting people down by gaining weight again.  I keep thinking, "I can't gain weight, these people just gave me a huge compliment!"  It's not the only thing that keeps me in line, of course, but it helps.  Everything helps. 

A friend of mine has been struggling with her weight in the last few years and is now on Weight Watchers and working out with a trainer.  She keeps telling me I'm her hero.  Never did I think I'd ever be anyone's hero when it came to my appearance!  I told her about Seta's reaction and she said, "I will get the same reaction about me.  Some day."  I told her, "Absolutely!  Just keep at it and you'll be there soon enough." 

I know I keep repeating myself, but it bears repeating:  It takes a lot of work to lose weight and keep it off, but the key is to not give up and keep plodding along.  It took me over 3 years which seems like an eternity (it was!) but the time was going to pass regardless of what I did.  Now here I am.  The time passed and I have arrived.  So will you if you don't give up!