Andi, is it okay if I respond to something in your whitefont, or would you prefer I don't? I 100% understand if this is something you are through discussing/thinking about.

Health at Every Size.

HAES rocks my socks. It makes so much sense. t edit Of course, I say that as someone who *also* needs to get off the couch and start training for the 5K in April. My current excuse is this fucking sinus infection, which is making me feel legit like a wrung-out washcloth. But I'm halfway through the antibiotics, so I expect to start feeling better soon, and then it's back to the track with entertaining podcats.

Threepeat:

Am I jaded when my response to Tim texting to say "I missed gunshots at the corner [where he works] because I was driving the truck" is "Oh, Northside."?

I feel like I should be more worried. But really, Oh, Northside. Love this neighborhood, but it has so many problems.

I'd like some podcats. Do they grow well in the shade?

Teppy, I mostly white-fonted so people wouldn't have to be exposed to that ugliness if they did not choose to. It's not verboten if you want to talk about it.

I'd like some podcats. Do they grow well in the shade?

I'm totally leaving that typo. They're Invasion of the Body Snatchers cats.

Some of us recognize that "ugliness", Andi. At least I do.

And I neglected to wish you a Happy Birthday, so let me prolong the celebration a little and wish you Happy Belated Birthday.

I'm back to seriously thinking about a tattoo again. I keep coming back to this: [link]

I'm also looking at script fonts. At some point I probably should get more work done.

Did I remember to thank everyone for their lovely birthday wishes? I may have thought about it so hard I thought I had done it. At any rate, many thanks to all and sundry.

Have to remove purring podcat from lap to go to work. Don't wanna.

Teppy, I mostly white-fonted so people wouldn't have to be exposed to that ugliness if they did not choose to. It's not verboten if you want to talk about it.

There was just one thing that resonated with me:

Also since there is no chance I will get my turn to be young and pretty and skinny, there is also no chance I can treat this body with the care and respect it requires to practice mindful eating.

It's true, you don't get to be young again, and probably not skinny. (I won't try to argue with you on "pretty," except to say that I have seen pictures of you, and you are so, so lovely.)

I feel that way a lot -- shit, I'm 43 and I wasted the chance (and the metabolism) to be young and less fat, so god damn it, what is the point? But I've been trying to shift that viewpoint to, well, I'm 43, and I hope I have a lot of my life left, and while I don't get to be young and skinny (or, let's be realistic here, old and skinny), how do I want the days/years in front of me to be? I won't be skinny (nor do I actually want to be), but I can have more energy and better health, and so I've been trying, most days, to make choices that will lead there.

It's true, we don't get our turn to have/be one thing, but we do get to decide what we do with what we have right now. And that's a relatively new way of thinking for me, because it's generally felt not worth it to me, too.

I don't mean for this to be a rah-rah pep talk. I'm not trying to inspire you to go roast cauliflower. I know all too well what it feels like to not respect my body and not care for it, for...ever, really. And it's a POV that's damn near impossible to shift, and I'm not exhorting you to make that shift, truly. I guess I just wanted to say: I get it, so so much, but I've surprised myself with this shift in my thinking.