Arms Around Me

(one of those many blogs I was suppose to write a million years ago.)

So, one day I had a co-worker who asked a simple question.  She asked, "When did you realize you had lost a lot of weight?"
She didn't believe my answers...
I told her that earlier that week was when I had finally noticed how small I was getting.  It's the weird things I had noticed.  It wasn't my jeans getting bigger or my shirts sliding off of me.  I told her it was the first time getting on Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens and having the lap bar close.  Considering the fact that the lap bar didn't close without a fight when I attempted to ride it for the first time when I was fifteen. I didn't want to get on the ride the second time around but seeing that bar close without the slightest force made the fear tears flow freely after the first drop.  I should have purchased the on-ride photo just so I'd have proof of riding. 
It's the weird small changes that blow my mind the most.
Another event that occurred to convince me further that I had joined the skinny club was when I walked around bored in a movie theater waiting for the show to start.  I happened to walk by a set of double-sided mirrors that employees in the office could look out but all you saw was your reflection.  All I could think of was this mirror must be from a Funhouse.  It didn't hit home until one of my friends came to stand next to me that it was indeed me....the way everyone else saw me, everyday.  I think I would've been less shocked if my leg was missing then to see that half of me was absent from the mirror.
Here is one last way that I knew I was losing weight...and probably the one I remember the most.  I had gotten past the denial phase and just entered into the accepting phase.  There was a friend that I hadn't seen in forever.  We talked for a while but before he left, he gave me a bear hug.  When his arms went all the way around my waist and then some, I could have fell out.  Usually, when your overweight, people hug your neck or hug your shoulders.  Or they do that retarded move where an arm is out straight and the other arm hooks around whatever it can.
But no....he hugged me.
The second his arms went around me, it was a new system of measurement.  I hugged him back so I could compare them when I got home.
On the chart of "Best Moments of My Life" this falls right behind me getting my new phone and in front of the Ravens winning the Super Bowl.