Dear stranger,

When you asked me “how far along are you?,” and I answered “I’m not!,” as in “I am not pregnant”, your elderly ears could not hear me, so I had to repeat myself.  The five other strangers standing in line with us were doing their best to pretend that they were not listening.  Talk about awkward.

All day yesterday I stewed about how insensitive it was for you to ask me that question.  You wouldn’t dream of approaching a woman and announcing “gee you are fat,” but that was essentially what happened.  Guess what, it’s true.  I am overweight.

I apologize, not because of anything I did, or said or didn’t say.  I am not apologizing for being “fat”. I apologize because I allowed your words to hold power over my feelings towards my body— a body that has held four children and has the scars to prove it…