chapter 17

Amanda yawned, stretched her arms and slowly rolled out of bed. She waddled into he bathroom, splashed some water on her face and gazed at the reflection in the mirror. She couldn't believe what she saw.

It had been six months since she started dating Mike Dombrowski and she had never been so happy in her entire life. Now some people overeat out of frustration. Others pig out because they're sad. Amanda ate when she was happy and she was deliriously happy. Which only went to explain her reflection in the mirror. Amanda was FAT. Not chubby, or chunky or any other euphemism you might try to use. She was genuinely, uproariously FAT! Even by the standards of her mother's side of the family, she was fat. And THAT was saying something.

There were only two words she could think of to describe herself, other than fat. They were round and flabby. Her face at one time had been nicely heart-shaped. Now it was round with a distinctly large double chin, a double chin that seemed to disappear into her also distinctly fat neck. Her arms were fat and flabby, waving like fleshy flags as she moved them to brush her hair. Her breasts were VERY round and extremely full, sagging heavily under the weight of layers upon layers of glistening fat. Her belly was the most prominent part of her physique. Amanda didn't look pregnant as some gainers do. No her belly spread more sideways than anything else, seemingly melding her waist to her fat-laden hips, with angry red stretch marks going hither and yon over the vast expanse of her belly.

What shocked Amanda wasn't her appearance so much as the entire change her life had taken. She didn't just LOOK different, in point of fact, Amanda Frazek WAS and entirely different person than she had been before. She wasn't the same driven, one track mind woman she had been before. It wasn't that her career no longer meant ANYTHING to her, it was that NOW it was no longer EVERYTHING to her. First there was Mike. Then came her family, her loud, raucous somewhat dysfunctional family. Whereas in the past she might have been embarrassed or somewhat ashamed of them, now she reveled in the sheer uniqueness of every last one of them. Then came the driving, urgent passion that had been missing from her life for so long. Now she LOVED EVERYTHING. The warmth of the spring breeze, the flowers bursting forth into bloom, the cuteness of the kittens Mike convinced her to adopt, the delight of a well-prepared meal and the sheer joy of being pleasantly full with Mike there to hold her close and massage her full belly when it needed it.

And so as she dressed that early June morning she stepped out into the world a happy woman. She was going to a job she loved. She was with a man she loved even MORE! And she appreciated all the joys and yes even the sorrows that life was all about. She may have been a "Golden Girl" before, at least in other people's eyes, but now she was truly a GOLDEN GIRL in her own eyes. She couldn't think of anything that would make her happier. Little did she know!!!