Ask a Fat Man

9^th April 2013

Dear Cassi,

         

What is it with folks who like to make friends at the gym? On the last two occasions I have taken my exercise there a man came and talked to me for at least a half hour and asked me about health of all things. What motivates these questions is beyond me as I am no man to tell folks how to live.

         

When looking to better one’s health it would be wise to ask someone healthier than one’s self. Asking a bloated monster like me for health advice is like asking a drug addict how to quit. Then perhaps these folks just need someone to help them pass the time.

         

The fellow in question on this occasion never gave me his name but first asked me if running in the water was better than running on a treadmill. As we were both running in the pool I would think he knew my view, but I gave him my thoughts to be polite.

         

I run in the pool because it takes stress off my joints and so permits me to run longer. If I took the same time on a treadmill my back would hurt and my knees would sting. The cool of the water keeps my body from perspiring and so dehydrating. In the pool I can burn more calories than on a treadmill because I can work out so much longer without exhaustion.

         

Once I had told the man of this he then asked me what I did for a living. We spend some twenty minutes talking about the nature of the homeless and what I do at work. He told me that he came from China and that he was the only member of his family here in America. We spent some time on his religion, and I think he was hoping for a convert. To my surprise he was a Christian. This fellow did not at any length detail his religion. He only said that he prayed and that it helped.  

         

Our talk made the minutes tick by without notice and so made my workout more pleasant. It comes to me that whatever this man’s motives for reaching into my life he was not an intrusion.

Enjoy the little things,

Richard Leland Neal

Cut My Guts

29^th October 2012

Dear Cassi,

       

I have a low opinion of my doctor and I’ll tell you why. He ran my blood work and took my weight, found that I was healthier than him, and then told me that I’m a candidate for gastric bypass surgery.

       

It so happens that I have a lean body mass of well over two hundred pounds and his analysis is incorrect. In order to be a candidate for gastric bypass surgery the body must be forty percent fat or more. I grant that I’m close to that but not over.

       

What happened is that he is assuming that I have the lean body mass of a normal person. When we assume we add an ass to U and Me. A normal man of my height should weigh in at no more than one hundred and eighty pounds. If I was that small you could see my bones.

       

The world is not as munch of numbers no matter how folks wish to make it so. Never in my life have I been a man who could be summed up easily. Clearly, my doctor sees me as numbers and figures, but I still maintain my humanity.

Be true to yourself, little sister

Richard Leland Neal

Fat Man in Water

7th of October 2012

Dear Cassi,


Once again I’ve dragged my ample posterior to the gym and taken two hours of cardio in the pool to jog my body back to life. I would call this success if it were not for the fact that I should have spent more time at this work.

It was not my lungs or heart that failed me but rather the connections to the meat of my legs at the ankles. The pain here claimed and slowed me and so I began to turn my body to lengthen my exercise.

I turned front from to side at first walking with one hip pointing forward. This action I kept at the end of each lap by turning in a new way, putting my back forward or offering the other hip. The practice worked and I kept it up till the pain became so unbearable that I could not cross the pool pointed in one direction.

At this point I stood from the water and found it hard to hold my

body standing. If it was that I had come accustomed to my lesser weight when buoyant or if I simply had nothing left to give I do not know, but I took some time in the hot tub to gain strength.

I’ve become so large a man over the passing years that had work and dedication fall short of my needs at this health business. Well, if the path I walk is hard the end of my travels we be all the more sweet.


Find the right trail, little sister,



Richard Leland Neal