[Imampaictjg]

Michelle... my dad worked for the US Navy while I was growing up. We moved to Navy bases in the Phillippines (two tours) and Spain. The moving became normal after the first time. That one was hard... I was 8. The other hard one was after my freshman year of high school. But I have to say, it was the BEST thing ever for me. Living in other countries... meeting all those people... it makes you different. As dh says, he could take me to a dog fight or a presidential inauguration and I'd feel comfortable. I like meeting people and I don't have a shy bone in my body (as long as I'm dressed LOL).

Panda... that nurse thing happened at a D.O.D. school on a Navy base in the PI... 38 years ago. A lot went on back then that wouldn't be allowed in this day and age. I know, in my heart, that she was just trying to help us. She thought if we ate in her office that we couldn't "snitch" bad food... I'm not sure why she thought one meal 5 days a week could make any difference, but I give her credit for trying. LOL

And Panda, I'm very proud of you for not allowing yourself to fall into the "I can't" or "it's genetics" trap. Skinny does not equal happy.... or healthy. We can be bigger than skinny and be just right.

I wonder if ALL women instictively scan a room to size up the other women and compare them to herself. I've done that all my life. It stinks to be the biggest one. But having been on both extremes of the spectrum, it's not all fun and games if you're the smallest one, either. It's amazing how women who were once friendly and supportive become vicious and cool when the only difference is being the smallest one now. You get NO empathy... no support... no understanding. And heaven help you if you agree that eating right is hard, or the food choices are difficult, etc. Even if they KNEW you fat, some will treat you like you never were. A real eye opener... and something I try VERY hard not to do when a thin woman makes a "fat woman" comment. Just like inside every overweight woman there's a thin woman dying to get out... inside of every woman who's lost weight there's a fat woman afraid she'll come out again.

Tril