Thursday, February 12, 2009

Divine Intervention Near the Baked Goods Counter

Feeling lethargic and depressed, I was seriously eye-balling the huge cookie sandwiches in the bakery case at the grocery store the other night. The middle consisted of about two-and-a-half inches of cream filling. Cream filling....mmmm. It was whispering to me that all it wanted to do was cheer me up if I'd only give it the chance. I felt myself leaning towards it while my daughter, still wearing her soccer practice attire, was handed her free cookie by the nice hairnet guy.

Suddenly I realize somebody's saying something nearby. I jerk my eyes away from my love interest, whipping around with a "Who, me?" attitude. I see that it's one of Q's schoolmate's mothers standing there with her cart and her three kids, cheerfully saying hi. Q and her eldest were in the same kindergarten class three years ago. We (the two moms) were both a lot heavier then.

She looks good. Well, she's in pre-dinner, full-kid mode, so she looks good in a quick-trip-to-the-grocery-store-with-three-kids-to-wrangle kind of way. Neither of us are sporting made-up faces or well-coiffed hair. Still, I am struck by how much skinnier she is than she used to be. Her body's parameters have drastically changed. This is the second, maybe third, time I've seen her looking this way. The first time, I did not know who she was until she spoke to me. Now I recognize her, but my mind again registers how much different she looks. And she looks pretty happy, too. She's got a big smile on her face.

Looking at this woman, my mind's eye jumps from the come-hither creaminess of the cookie sandwich to this newly-skinny-mommy-figure. By seeing her, I see the things the cookie sandwich cannot give me. She is happy. She is healthy. She has energy. You can tell she feels good about herself. That is what is important. This is a freaking sign from gawd, and I know it. The cookie sandwich could not give me those things.

I tell her how great she looks, ask her what her secret is. She tells me she's been exercising a lot. I tell her it's great to see her, take care, see you next time.

There is no way I can count on a second messenger from gawd to intervene were I to, oh I dunno, maybe meander through the snack food aisle. How many gifts from gawd does a girl get in one night? As Q happily munches on her free cookie, I head straight to the checkout lane, with quiet determination and no looking back.

My new mantra while shopping: "Walk away, girl, just walk away."

12 comments:

Wait. What? said...

And what a good mantra that is too!

gudnuff said...

You know, I wrote this to be a funny post. I told that lady when she said hi that I thought gawd had sent her to stop me from eating that damn cookie thing. She laughed with me on my little joke. She saw me at drop-off this morning at school and laughed about it again, saying I was hysterical at the store the other night. (At the moment of hearing this, I was quite pleased and flattered and everything. Now I'm wondering if she gets out much.) I wanted to capture the funny moment, but this kinda seems like a serious post. Go figure.

Unknown said...

It must be in the air! My neighbor and I were just talking today about what kind of 'inspiration' we get from running into old friends/ acquaintances who have lost a lot of weight.

I've been feeling bad lately because the holidays helped me add 3-4 pounds BACK on that I'd worked so hard to get off. Now, for whatever reason, those cookies and such are calling to me in the most seductive voices!

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who struggles not to consume cream-filled cookies!

CP said...

walkign away from sweets is soo hard!! they are my weakness! But today I saw an old friend too and jealously noticed how tiny she was while I am still packing on 5 extra baby weight pounds- I, however, WILL NOT EXERCISE!

by the way- good job on staying strong!

gudnuff said...

Cat - Yeah, right? Plus it has a tone of lugubrious finality that makes me think I'll just end up sad anyway...sad AND fat...now that's not too hard to walk away from. (A more cheerful mantra that works when I'm in a more energetic mood is the Dora-fish line from Finding Nemo, instead of "Just keep swimming", I'll think-sing "Just keep walking, just keep walking"...if this makes me a freak, so be it. Skinny freaks are accepted a lot more readily than fat ones. Not that I'm anywhere near skinny! Yet.) (HA! "yet"...Hawt!)

Hyphen-Mama - I'm tellin' you...you and I are traipsing along the same mental hire wire these days. Spooky, eh? I love it. Soooo glad you're out there. I'll send you a heart-shaped ruby ring...no wait... Actually, I'm impressed and inspired that you've desensitized the kids against the Hallmark propaganda of VD hysteria. (I should probably put this as a comment on YOUR post, eh?)

Cee - LOL...omg...you are the cutest, tiniest thing! Five pounds can suck when you feel like you're chasing them and chasing them and they just WILL NOT go away...but Cee...you are one hawt baby mama. Maybe it's five additional pounds of brain tissue/gray matter!

gudnuff said...

BTW, you know who seems to have been doing a great job on the losing weight thing is Butterflyfish. I think I saw a tweet or something from her in the last few weeks that said she was down ten pounds. Woooooo! Good job Butterflyfish! Weight loss in the midst of School, kids, holidays? That is truly no small accomplishment. Congratulations!

Bea said...

Walking away is SO hard. I have no willpower. I'm dreading the day I have to start losing this baby weight (in only 4 short months... sigh). If only I craved vegetables instead of chocolate.

Patois42 said...

Glad the messenger reached you in time to save you from yourself. Or, I guess, from a cookie, that is.

Unknown said...

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Right up you (and the cream filled cookie's) alley!

KG said...

FYI, I totally disagree. That cookie sandwich was happiness. ;-)

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