Lois had always
taken good care of herself and was proud of her appearance, to the point where
she let herself get a bit underweight at times. After two kids, though, the weight started
piling on and she couldn’t get it off.
Bill reassured
her that he loved her and would always love her no matter her weight. It just
wasn’t important to him, but most of all, he just wanted her to be happy.
But, gaining
all that weight made her unhappy, so she went to her doctor for help. He put
her on diet pills, or what we know today as speed.
The pills gave
her bouncing-off-the-walls energy, but after they wore off, she became anxious
and depressed. The longer she took them, the worse it got, so one day she
stopped taking them. Cold turkey.
A few days
later, Bill came home to find his wife in tears and the kids upset and worried about
mommy. Mommy had been crying most of the day and couldn’t stop.
He rushed her
to the doctor who decreed that she’d had a nervous breakdown from stopping the
diet pills (no shit!) and finished up their visit by prescribing more pills.
Antidepressants. She took them for a little while but those pills made her feel
like a zombie, so she quit taking them too.
And guess what?
After a few days without all those pills she was fine.
But, in the
back of Bill’s mind lurked the shadow of the diet pills, and so he worried
about her. That’s why he always made light of his troubles. He figured she had
enough on her hands without worrying about him too.
3 comments:
Thank you for sharing these memories. Since all of this happened before I was born, it's good to get a glimpse into Mom & Dad's early years.
I love sharing memories of Mom & Dad and I'm happy that you enjoy them as much as I do. I only know about this particular one because, as you probably know, when I was a teenager I saw myself as overweight. Mom told me about her experiences with her own body dysmorphic disorder tendencies so I wouldn't go down the same path she did. I still struggle with it, but her understanding and support helped me (and still does) get through it.
I agree with Lori. Learning some of what went on before we were born is very interesting as well as pieces of a big puzzle. Helps make sense of some things.
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