The Emotional Weight of it All...

     While waiting for a Weight Watcher's meeting to begin, a kind, middle-aged woman next to me struck up a conversation.  "Is today your first day?" she asked with a nervous smile.

     "Yes and no," I answered.  "This is my first day, but not my first time," I said with a wink.

      She just laughed and began to commiserate with me.  She told me how hard it was for her to do this again and the struggle she's been through.  This was her third time starting Weight Watchers.  I listened and understood completely, being a serial dieter myself.  But then she told me of her other struggles.  Struggles that had prevented her from committing to her weight loss for one reason or another.  Her son had a stroke, then her father took ill, shortly after her daughter-in-law broke her leg and needed constant assistance.  It was like a page out of a Greek tragedy.  And then she smiled, and said, "But everyone's better now, and here I am trying to get back on track."  Wow, I thought, what a trooper.