It Should Have Fallen Off in the Hospital.
I wanted to write something profound for Dylan’s birthday.
My baby turned 17. He loves this age, and says that he has felt 17 for at least three months. He’s excited and terrified to be an adult in one mere year. And he had a fantastic birthday, with both friends and family, doing things he loved with people he enjoyed.
I adore my baby, even at 17, and I still envision him racing across the video store floor, to tackle me by landing in my waiting arms. It’s a memory I treasure, and no matter how old he gets, that’s how I will always see Dylan.
But do you know what I was thinking on Dylan’s birthday? I had a thought that – in 17 years – I had not had before.
Seventeen years, I thought. That’s a long time to carry around my “baby” weight.
They called it “baby” weight when I gained a few (40) pounds during pregnancy. So I figured baby weight would “fall off” – like, when I gave birth to a 10-pound baby, I would lose at least 10 pounds, and the rest would be some kind of water weight. But that didn’t happen.
So maybe it should have burned off in all those years that I was chasing Dylan around, trying to keep up. For that matter, it should have “fallen off” in the hospital. I mean, pregnancy was a lot of work! And I had to eat for two! Shouldn’t those extra calories have been donated to the baby?
But they were not donated to the baby. They were donated to me.
I don’t know what it is, exactly, that has kept these added pounds on my body. Age, slowing metabolism, cake and ice cream, blah blah blah. I even have thyroid problems.
Instead of celebrating Dylan, I thought about the extra calories, the extra pounds, the many many many many many times I have lost the weight – then put it back on again, plus a few extra – just to help make sure that silly dieting thing doesn’t happen again.
And there I was, with my baby weight plus some, singing happy birthday, excited for my baby to enjoy all that the glorious 17th year has to offer…. And I had a nice, big piece of chocolate cake to celebrate the occasion.