Rope-jumping Lesson

 

The most beautiful things in the world are not seen or touched.  They are felt with the heart.--Helen Keller

I'm a plus-sized woman...which makes me positive, right?

One time I overheard one of my coworkers, this petite little bird, telling this other coworker that whenever she went shopping, she always had a hard time finding a size six that fit her just right.

"What a coincidence!" I chimed in.  "I have the same problem!"

Growing up, I had always been known as "skinny Jenny."  The stressors of college led me down a path lined with divine chocolates as I crammed for finals.  The stressors of motherhood led me to pesto pasta heaven.  Before you can say "type II diabetes," my bathroom mirror began telling me the sad and painful truth.  I'd morphed into a trophy wife of the Michelin man.

When my daughter was two years old, I found her trying to jump rope.  She kept swinging the rope over her head and stomping on it.  She couldn't get a handle on it.  Her brothers were too busy jumping rope to show her how, so I took it upon myself to teach her.

I did a few clumsy cycles and was surprised to see that it was very much like learning to ride a....well, a mechanical bull.

Still jumping, I turned around to find a captive audience.  All four of my children were bug-eyed.  

Mommy jumping rope? 

I could see myself through their eyes.  Sort of like watching a little elephant with breasts flopping together like click-clacks.

My oldest son, Cody, had this awed smile on his face, the kind reserved for those huge chocolate milkshakes.  I will never forget what he said for as long as I shall live and breathe.

"Momma!  You look beautiful like the rainbow!"

I stopped jumping rope as tears welled up in my eyes.

He added, "And...and your body is made of hearts!"

George Bernard Shaw was onto something when he said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.  I don't believe in circumstances.  The people who are going to get going this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, MAKE THEM."

A circumstance does not define you.

You are a human being first.

I am a human being first...who happens to have a body made of hearts.