Author Archives: Jeanne

The Weight Gain

When I entered my freshman year of high school in the fall of 1982, I weighed 115 pounds and was about five feet five inches tall. I had spent the summer cycling thirty or more miles a day preparing for a week of bicycle camp. During that week, I biked for five days and went over 200 miles.

All the cycling stopped when I entered high school. The demands of classes kept me studying much of the time. Also, I lived in New Hampshire and the weather eventually turned cooler. The perfect storm for gaining weight.

The weight came on quickly. I felt like someone was holding a bucket over my head and pouring the weight on me. I was adding one to two pounds a week. Sure, I was perhaps a bit underweight, but suddenly I was becoming fat. By early spring, I had put on twenty-five pounds. My mom was perplexed at my weight gain, but decided to try and help me out. She signed us up for aerobics classes. Aerobics was the thing in 1983.

I hated those classes. I felt awkward and stupid. My mom didn’t care for them much either. The one thing the aerobics classes did do was stop more weight from coming on. I didn’t lose any weight, though. We went to those classes two or three times a week.

At the end of my freshman year, I weighed 140 pounds.

Summer was upon us. Every summer my family would move to the lake house. During that summer, my mom and I would do a routine of calisthenics in the morning and a walk every evening. Of course, I did a lot of swimming and kayaking as I did every summer. I lost 10 pounds before my sophomore year started.

During the next three years of high school, I did put those ten pounds back on, but I also grew two more inches. I ended my high school career weighing 145 pounds.

October’s Bizarre Holidays

  1. World Vegetarian Day
  2. Name Your Car Day
  3. Virus Appreciation Day
  4. National Golf Day
  5. National Storytelling Festival
  6. German-American Day
  7. National Frappe Day
  8. American Tag Day
  9. Moldy Cheese Day
  10. National Angel Food Cake Day
  11. It’s My Party Day
  12. International Monument of Frustration Scream Day
  13. National Peanut Festival
  14. Be Bald and Free Day
  15. White Cane Safety Day
  16. Dictionary Day
  17. Gaudy Day
  18. No Beard Day
  19. Evaluate Your Life Day
  20. National Brandied Fruit Day
  21. Babbling Day
  22. National Nut Day
  23. National Mole Day
  24. National Bologna Day
  25. Punk For a Day Day
  26. Mule Day
  27. Sylvia Plath Day
  28. Plush Animal Lover’s Day
  29. Hermit Day
  30. National Candy Corn Day
  31. National Magic Day

September’s Bizarre Holidays

  1. Emma M. Nutt Day
  2. National Beheading Day
  3. Skyscraper Day
  4. Newspaper Carrier Day
  5. Be Late For Something Day
  6. Fight Procrastination Day
  7. Neither Rain nor Snow Day
  8. National Date Nut Bread Day
  9. Teddy Bear Day
  10. Swap Ideas Day
  11. No News is Good News Day
  12. National Chocolate Milkshake Day
  13. Defy Superstition Day
  14. National Creme Filled Donut Day
  15. Felt Hat Day
  16. Collect Rocks Day
  17. National Apple Dumpling Day
  18. National Play-Doh Day
  19. National Butterscotch Pudding Day
  20. National Punch Day
  21. International Banana Festival
  22. Hobbit Day
  23. Checkers Day
  24. Festival of Latest Novelties
  25. National Comic Book Day
  26. National Good Neighbor Day
  27. Crush a Can Day
  28. Ask a Stupid Question Day
  29. Poisoned Blackberries Day
  30. National Mud Pack Day