Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Amy
Jason has put in a request for me to write a bit more about Amy.
I met Amy in grade 9, she was in my gym class. I don’t know how all gym classes go, but I’m pretty that the people in them, absent other friends, will break up along athletic lines. My friend Jeri was in the class too, and the three of us (and one other girl) were by far the most athletically gifted. We were always on opposing teams, trying to outdo each other, but it was a friendly rivalry.
Our clique remained through high school, even though she was more into the business stuff, Jeri was more into the science stuff and I was all about art.
When we graduated I went into art history, Jeri didn’t go to university and Amy went to UWO to study accounting. Now, London’s not all that far away, but if you just want to go out for a night to get trashed, that’s along drive. So we sort of drifted apart. We’d see each other in the summer, but she was getting jobs working in London too, so Amy drifted out of our circle of friends.
The people she did get ‘in’ with at UWO were partiers (aren’t they all at Western?). She put on the freshman 15, and then kept going. She actually got ‘fat’ long before I’d discovered the joys of food!
But, since she had always been fit, she would lose weight, but like most women over 20, she would yo-yo around.
The last time I saw her was when Jeri’s daughter was born, Amy came home to see her. At that point, she was on an ‘up’. I think she’d been having trouble with her boyfriend. But at the same time, Jeri had gained her weight with pregnancy. That was also the time that I was opening my eyes to the possibilities of enjoying food on many more levels than making my stomach stop rumbling.
But it was a few years before I got to see Amy again. Just the way it goes, I was working in Toronto, she was working in London, and we rarely saw each other. Party my fault, as I had been gaining weight myself, I drifted away from our circle of friends back home, so if she came back, it was me who wasn’t there. But I was having fun, so who cares!
But, one of her friends in London runs a small gallery, and commented it was tough to find the right kind of people to help out. Amy knew that I had trouble finding places to work, but felt I’d get along really well with her friend. Lo and behold, I did get along well and had a new job in London!
Amy had recently broken up with a boyfriend she’d been living with. She kept the apartment, but it was suddenly a little more expensive than she could cover, so she invited me to stay on ‘until one of us goes nuts’.
At that point I was about my highest weight, and it had been a while since she actually saw me. She was totally blown away, she still thought of me as the 110 pound girl she met in gym class, not the 460 pound woman at her doorstep.
She was curious about the weight gain, and I was open and honest with her. I told her about my philosophies about food being an art, and that it can be enjoyed if prepared the right way.
It should also be noted that at this point I’d been feeding Ian for, oh, about 6 months, and myself for the years before that, so I was rather used to preparing vast meals. Amy wasn’t used to eating good meals at all. She can cook okay, and her boyfriend could cook okay, but nothing fancy really. But once she got a taste of my food, she was hooked. I didn’t MEAN to over feed her, but I was just used to it.
She didn’t realise what was going on, and she just ate away, with me. We both gained weight before I finally had to put a stop to it. I was too big for my own comfort, and she had pledged to not have a boyfriend until she got her weight under control, she was well on her way to being a nun!
She then began to diet, and I began my diet, and all was good.
Then the guy who I replaced at work came home from where he was studying in England! He started hanging around the store, and we got along quite well. I’m not sure exactly what he found interesting in me, but he was as fascinated about my weight as anyone reading this diary ever is.
But when he met Amy, I could SWEAR I heard a click. They’re like Ian and I, not the same, but interested enough in each other that it makes things more interesting.
BUT, he was still fascinated by my weight.
So, he has convinced Amy that she could try gaining some weight herself. Given that her past attempts at dieting had been mediocre at best, and her goal of losing weight before finding a boyfriend had been short circuited, it wasn’t that huge a deal to her.
Since her decision, she’s gained maybe 5 pounds. I don’t know, I haven’t asked, she hasn’t told me, just my ‘eyeballing’. She is eating more these days, and has taken a few tips from Ian about ‘eating well’. She’s making requests of me for dinner, which I’m more than happy to prepare, but she eats more when Thomas is around.
Jason has put in a request for me to write a bit more about Amy.
I met Amy in grade 9, she was in my gym class. I don’t know how all gym classes go, but I’m pretty that the people in them, absent other friends, will break up along athletic lines. My friend Jeri was in the class too, and the three of us (and one other girl) were by far the most athletically gifted. We were always on opposing teams, trying to outdo each other, but it was a friendly rivalry.
Our clique remained through high school, even though she was more into the business stuff, Jeri was more into the science stuff and I was all about art.
When we graduated I went into art history, Jeri didn’t go to university and Amy went to UWO to study accounting. Now, London’s not all that far away, but if you just want to go out for a night to get trashed, that’s along drive. So we sort of drifted apart. We’d see each other in the summer, but she was getting jobs working in London too, so Amy drifted out of our circle of friends.
The people she did get ‘in’ with at UWO were partiers (aren’t they all at Western?). She put on the freshman 15, and then kept going. She actually got ‘fat’ long before I’d discovered the joys of food!
But, since she had always been fit, she would lose weight, but like most women over 20, she would yo-yo around.
The last time I saw her was when Jeri’s daughter was born, Amy came home to see her. At that point, she was on an ‘up’. I think she’d been having trouble with her boyfriend. But at the same time, Jeri had gained her weight with pregnancy. That was also the time that I was opening my eyes to the possibilities of enjoying food on many more levels than making my stomach stop rumbling.
But it was a few years before I got to see Amy again. Just the way it goes, I was working in Toronto, she was working in London, and we rarely saw each other. Party my fault, as I had been gaining weight myself, I drifted away from our circle of friends back home, so if she came back, it was me who wasn’t there. But I was having fun, so who cares!
But, one of her friends in London runs a small gallery, and commented it was tough to find the right kind of people to help out. Amy knew that I had trouble finding places to work, but felt I’d get along really well with her friend. Lo and behold, I did get along well and had a new job in London!
Amy had recently broken up with a boyfriend she’d been living with. She kept the apartment, but it was suddenly a little more expensive than she could cover, so she invited me to stay on ‘until one of us goes nuts’.
At that point I was about my highest weight, and it had been a while since she actually saw me. She was totally blown away, she still thought of me as the 110 pound girl she met in gym class, not the 460 pound woman at her doorstep.
She was curious about the weight gain, and I was open and honest with her. I told her about my philosophies about food being an art, and that it can be enjoyed if prepared the right way.
It should also be noted that at this point I’d been feeding Ian for, oh, about 6 months, and myself for the years before that, so I was rather used to preparing vast meals. Amy wasn’t used to eating good meals at all. She can cook okay, and her boyfriend could cook okay, but nothing fancy really. But once she got a taste of my food, she was hooked. I didn’t MEAN to over feed her, but I was just used to it.
She didn’t realise what was going on, and she just ate away, with me. We both gained weight before I finally had to put a stop to it. I was too big for my own comfort, and she had pledged to not have a boyfriend until she got her weight under control, she was well on her way to being a nun!
She then began to diet, and I began my diet, and all was good.
Then the guy who I replaced at work came home from where he was studying in England! He started hanging around the store, and we got along quite well. I’m not sure exactly what he found interesting in me, but he was as fascinated about my weight as anyone reading this diary ever is.
But when he met Amy, I could SWEAR I heard a click. They’re like Ian and I, not the same, but interested enough in each other that it makes things more interesting.
BUT, he was still fascinated by my weight.
So, he has convinced Amy that she could try gaining some weight herself. Given that her past attempts at dieting had been mediocre at best, and her goal of losing weight before finding a boyfriend had been short circuited, it wasn’t that huge a deal to her.
Since her decision, she’s gained maybe 5 pounds. I don’t know, I haven’t asked, she hasn’t told me, just my ‘eyeballing’. She is eating more these days, and has taken a few tips from Ian about ‘eating well’. She’s making requests of me for dinner, which I’m more than happy to prepare, but she eats more when Thomas is around.
// posted by Charlotte @ 1:49:00 PM 
