A Weighty Subject Best Avoided

(I’m meeting up with a friend who I’ve often had coffee with. I’m partially disabled and a plus-sized woman. We’ve just got our coffees and I’m reaching for the sugar jar on the table when she grabs my wrist.)

Friend: “Sorry, but, look, someone needs to tell you this.”

Me: “What? I got a bogey hanging out my nose or something?”

Friend: “Yes, you make jokes about everything but it’s time you accepted this.”

Me: “What?”

Friend: “You need to lose weight. Seriously.”

Me: “Riiiight. I’m not having this conversation. You know my past. We were friends when I nearly died from anorexia in my teens, remember?”

Friend: “Yeah, but maybe you could eat less, like you did then? Just until you get down to a healthy weight, of course! No longer than that!”

Me: “Thanks for the concern but I eat perfectly healthily, thanks.”

Friend: “You probably wouldn’t need your walking sticks either if you had less weight to carry around. Please! I care about you and I want to see you get better!”

Me: “Yeahhh, no. This isn’t a conversation I’m okay with. Let’s talk about books or Doctor Who like we normally do, eh?”

(Later that afternoon she sent me multiple emails about various fad diets and intensive gym workouts, none of which I can do with my disabilities. I haven’t calmed down enough to reply to her yet!)