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HOW TO LOSE 200 POUNDS
(Female,
20’s to 50’s)
Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was staring at your food. I’m on this damn diet and… I don’t even like meatloaf, so you’re safe.
It’s been hard for me to wrap my head around this diet, maybe because it’s Dan’s idea. He thought it would be a good idea to drop a few pounds before we go to the Bahamas. Notice I got my hair cut and colored? That was Dan’s idea too. He said long hair wasn’t me and I’d look hot as a blonde.
(Off her friend’s look)
Wait a minute…you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking? Noooo he’s not trying to make me into his old girlfriend. Come on, how ridiculous is that? Dan loves me the way I am, he just sees things about me that could be…better. Like when he suggested that I have my teeth whitened. That was a great idea. The lip collagen treatments were ok; I just wish they had come out even. I still see a little Marge Simpson when I look in the mirror.
I have to admit…he has been pushing me to get breast implants and…well; I really don’t want to have plastic surgery. Gosh, you know I’ve done all the things he’s asked me to do and… I guess maybe I am beginning to wonder what it’s going to take to make him happy. To be honest, I think he could drop a few pounds, but when I brought that up, he totally went ballistic on me! It kinda made me feel like I was the one doing all the work in our relationship.
(Her own words start to sink in.)
I could wind up a totally different person and he still might not be happy. Now that I think about it, instead of dropping a few pounds…I think I’ll just drop Dan. There. That was easy.
Can I have a bite of your meatloaf?
TIPS: You must truly believe that Dan’s suggestions for your improvement are for your own good until you relive the moment he threw a fit over your suggestions for him. Allow that thought to take you to the realization that he might never be happy with you. Once that thought has made its connection, you realize that’s not the kind of guy you want …and your decision is made. Note: This transition has to be backed by truthful thoughts and emotions or else it will seem like dead space and you’ll lose them. So keep it real and “put some gas in your tank”.
HINDSIGHT
(Male, 20’s to 40’s)
I keep thinking about that night. I wake up in a cold sweat and see her face…and hear her voice telling me to go on home, she could handle it. Leena was the kind of girl you believed when she said she could handle it.
Leena’s brother Marcus, on the other hand, was a loser. He dropped out at the tenth grade, and found a way to make more money than any diploma could offer. Leena knew where the money came from and wouldn’t have anything to do with it, but she was always there for him when he needed her.
Two months ago Leena and I had had just gotten back to her place. I was a little drunk and in a hurry to get her undressed…and was almost there when Marcus showed up. I got my butt on my shoulders because I felt like when little brother wanted something she dropped everything else. I told her not to let him in, but she did it anyway.
Marcus looked like hell, like he’d been on a week-long binge. Smelled like it too. He was edgy as hell and paced from the couch to the window talking in circles. I tried to get through to him while Leena made him a sandwich but he was really out there. So I went in the kitchen to reason with her. I told her he was high as hell on crack or whatever, and she needed to kick him out until he grew up or went into rehab. She snapped at me and told me to go home…she could handle it. I was pissed, so I did.
When my radio went off the next morning with the usual news report, I didn’t know who they were talking about at first, and I lay there thinking, “God what a horrible thing to happen to someone”. How could anyone do that to another human being?
But they did. They left Marcus and took the only thing that mattered to him, his sister. Leena paid the ultimate price for her brother’s debt.
And I wish to God every day that I had stayed.
TIPS:
You must allow yourself the “moment to moment” in the telling of this story. Emotionally
you go back in time with every line in this piece. The anticipation you felt when you and Leena were getting ready to make
love, to the frustration and anger with Marcus when he barges in. How you felt when Leena wouldn’t listen to you and
ordered you out, to the disbelief and horror of the news report and the guilt you were left with.
