Fat with Benefits

I just want to take a moment to appreciate the fact that there are lots of benefits to having always been a chubby (and now fat) person.

First of all, as a kid, chubby kids are the cutest. We have the most adorable chubby cheeks. We're punchable and cuddly. If you have the added benefit of being short in addition to chunky, you're like this pocket sized troll doll or something. You're just cute.

My baby brother and I about 18 years ago. Me, the adorable chubby kid, Baby Brother, the waifish, slightly less adorable kid. 

As you grow up with a more fat-inclined body, I found that I had one of two options - fight it or embrace it. As fighting it would have involved things like working out, I chose to embrace it. Any teen, any woman, for that matter, is going to have her insecurities, but by and large, I liked how I looked. Being chubby also meant I had boobs (despite coming from less boob inclined DNA) as well as a generous set of hips and behind, which I might not have always appreciated, but others did.

Oh, baby me. 17 and my senior portrait. All that hair!

So, like lots of people, I've gained some weight since high school, having found a comfortable and loving relationship, had two kids, and am now able to afford to buy lots of food. Unlike many others I know or seem to glean from people's blogs and vlogs, the weight I've gained doesn't seem to make me as crazy. Am I thrilled? Nope. Would I love to be the size 12/14 of the beautiful young lady above? Sure. But I don't have this nagging feeling that I'm missing out on something great in being thin again, because I was never thin to begin with. Never.

I have been aware of my body size since I was about 9 or so, when I realized my mum's wedding dress was too small to fit me. I have always been chubby, always will be chubby. I'm ready to really embrace.