I had what one might call an awkward childhood/adolescence, filled with (but absolutely not limited to) the following:
- Being entirely too obnoxious precocious.
- Being the fat kid.
- Being the precocious fat kid.
- Having issues with being the fat kid, not eating, then being the super-skinny weird girl that didn’t eat.
- Being born with incredibly thin hair that my mother permed, thus resembling a poodle during my formative years.
- Having two front teeth the size of chiclets (literally), plus an all-kinds-of-jacked-up-grill that required close to four years in braces.
- Getting those braces (and matching HEADGEAR) on — and for — my birthday. No I’m not kidding.
- After getting rid of the braces, being tormented by hellacious acne.
- Being the skinny girl with the enormous feet. Yes, it looked like I had skis attached to my ankles.
What that boils down to is being made fun of relentlessly, taking it personally (now it’s hilarious, of course), and having very few friends.
But, the friends I did have were fiercely loyal and supportive.
You can imagine that my small social circle made going off to college and meeting people difficult. So I drank a lot to put myself at ease (that’s a whole other story) and made some friends. Which ended up being a small circle again.
Then I graduated, got married, and moved to a place where I knew no one. I got involved with the community, and made yet another small circle of friends.
These small circles from all walks of life thus far are filled with some of the best friends a girl could ask for. I consider myself lucky to have many acquaintances (that I love spending time with) and a (large) handful of really great friends.
Last night I met up with a couple of my girlfriends to catch up over a glass of wine (I’m seeing a theme here…). One of them just had a baby, and of course I jumped at the opportunity to see her as soon as said she needed to get out of the house. The three of us ended up spending two hours talking about the “joys” of new motherhood, recent promotions and job stresses, and anything else that happened to come up. I love that.
One of my college roommate’s (and best friend’s) birthday is on Sunday, and I’m absolutely thrilled to get to see her and another great friend over brunch and hours of girl time and nonsense.
In the next few months, I’m going to Vegas with friends, the Bahamas with friends, and tons of happy hours and summer get-togethers with friends.
Most importantly, I’m married to my best-best-best friend. He makes me happy EVERY day. We have already had adventures (and mis-adventures), and we will continue to have them for the rest of our life together. With him, LIFE is an adventure.
So, what is the point of all this?
First, to express gratitude. I am so very thankful for my friends. They support me, encourage me, and keep me going.
Second, and relevant to this blog (see – there’s a point!), is the friendly reminder that there are so many more important and meaningful things in life that don’t revolve around having a “different” diet. Yes, eating at restaurants is awkward, having people over is awkward, going to people’s houses is awkward, and life in general is a little awkward. BUT…having great people and friends in your life makes that not matter. They make it fun. And they make it MUCH easier to laugh when the gluten-free bread you try to bake ends up disgusting.
Without my friends and Hubby, going gluten-free would have been so much harder. I am so incredibly lucky.
And now, I have NEW friends – YOU!
Kelly