I’ve always been chubby.
My family didn’t have a problem with that,
Thank God.
And they never told me that I needed to lose weight.
But when I was young,
Mama didn’t like dressing me in revealing clothing,
So that no one would give me the evil eye.
I wasn’t aware of things then,
And I didn’t notice that I was chubby until elementary school.
That’s when people started making remarks,
Sometimes even strangers.
I was still young,
But I understood that I was overweight.

I didn’t have a lot of friends,
And I didn’t talk with a lot of people,
Because up until middle school,
I thought no one liked me because of my body.
I was leaving the classroom one time,
When the teacher said,
“Wait until the student outside comes back first.”
“You’re twice her size,”
The teacher told me when she came back.
I didn’t show that I was upset,
But I cried when I went home.
Mama called her and yelled at her,
But I was still sad inside.

I became more outgoing in the 9th grade,
And I made new friends.
I found out that no one actually hated me because of my body.
Then things were normal in high school.

Until recently,
When someone was checking out our apartment,
Which we were selling,
He told mama,
“Your daughter needs to lose a little weight.”
“Don’t be upset.
You’re like my daughter,” he told me.
I laughed,
But the feeling I had when I was younger came rushing back.