I Finally Was The ‘Little’ Sister
I hadn’t seen my brother in more than two years. He said, “You might not recognize me because I finally cut my hair”. The thought of my over-age hippie brother without a long, shaggy ponytail was difficult to imagine, but I was ready. “You might not recognize me either”, I said. “I lost a lot of weight”. My brother didn’t say anything. He had heard this one before. In fact, prior to my vertical sleeve gastrectomy, I figured I had probably lost about a thousand pounds - and then gained about 1,002. This time was different. I lost 105 pounds in a healthy, medically-approved way thanks to my surgery and it has mandated dramatically changing my eating habits. Also, I had kept the weight off for 14 months so far. My brother walked right past me twice. Finally, I walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and did a double take, no a triple take. “Is that my little sister”, he asked. “Yes”, I said proudly, “it’s me - your younger AND your little sister”. By the way, his hair was short and spiky. I might not have noticed him, except that he’s 6′6″ tall and was wearing a red flannel shirt I had given him years ago.