Weird and recent descriptions of me...

Since having weight loss surgery, I have heard some strange comments about my body that I've never heard before:

1.  "You are a tight healer."  --my surgeon
2.  "You really should breathe more.  You're, like, a breath-holder." --the respiratory specialist
3.  "You look just like you, only shrunk."  --a co-worker (who is also a wonderful nurse)
4.  "It's like your face is coming out at me, because you're losing your neck." --The Mom
5.  "Wow, your whole backside is like a rock."  --a CNA, as she helps me out of the shower, post-surgery.  (OK, I have heard that one before, but I just wanted to mention it again.  Baby got some firm backside!)

As complementary and/or rude/inappropriate as these comments are, I find myself laughing about them.  I collect them and try to store them in my memory bank because I find it interesting how other people are noticing and processing the changes they see in me.  And I am suddenly noticing that another person's take on my body, attitude, or breathing is just an opinion--not the God's Truth.   

This is a major realization for me.  In the past I have been hyper-self-conscious about ANY comments relating to my body--good and bad, thin or thick.  When I would gain weight, I would go home and obsess over the comment.  When I would lose weight I would duck my head, embarrassed.  Now, I find that I'm just rollin' with it.  After all, when you spend 8 days in the hospital getting poked at by strangers, including a rough sponge-bath from a large, redheaded CNA in a room with glass doors, you sort of give up on your self-consciousness.  You have to. 

And so far it seems to be a good thing.  It's a breath of fresh air to know that my self-worth is less tied up in what others say than it used to be.  So if you see me on the street, feel free to note my 3-D face, if I'm breathing freely, or even check out the badonk-a-donk.  You won't be the first.  And at the rate I'm changing these days, I'm sure that you won't be the last.