Wait a minute! I can't believe it! For the first time I have these words swung at me!"
I am 30 years old in September and for the first time someone expressed these 'foreign' words to me - hold on, wait a minute - now here it goes...ready?: "Madame, you have put on too much weight!!"
My family and friends, who've known me a long time, are now all bent over and dying with laughter! I know!! Yes, yes, I was told on Monday that I've put on a little too much weight too quickly!! The funny thing is that I can't see it at all. I still have chicken legs, small hips and thin arms. Yet, the scale at my Gynecologist/Obstetrician read 64kilos!!! Hold on, let me get that for the non-metric-ites- that is, 141lbs!! So basically, I went from 58kilos (127lbs) a month ago to 6kg (14lbs) more in a hop, skip and a jump!!! Should I then conclude that these pounds are stocked in my belly (which is now the size of a nice watermelon), my buttocks (hell no, I won’t give you a fruit) and my breasts (ditto)! Whichever the case, he warned me with a kind smile that the next time we see each other - June 22nd - I will have put on zero kilos more!!! Hahahaha!! Guillaume and I laughed as I strenuously tried to explain that I think his scale had gone completely cuckoo as this wasn't possible at all and he quietly told me that his €1,000 scale is used in high level competitions and of course Guillaume backed him up saying this was exactly the kind of scale he used to use during his Karate competitions!! Great!!
Yesterday, however, as my friend Adeomi and I went to the Champs Elysées to visit the new Gap maternity section, I couldn't resist the beckoning from the Haagen-Dazs sign visible from the other side of the busy avenue and between the passing limousines, motorcycles and Paris Tours buses. The fact of the matter is – I am happy with my weight. I cherish my new body full with life – in all the sense of the word. People seem so much nicer in the metro and the stores. Yes, I know this sounds almost unimaginable in Paris, but I swear that I have had people smile at me more than ever. They never smiled at me before - except for the random pervert on the metro! Before I stopped over in Gap, I popped by Sephora to get some face powder (yes, the joys of pregnancy also bring pimples and more gloss to an already oily skin) and the makeup lady came up to me to let me know that she loved seeing pregnant women and especially those who are proud to show it. And earlier in the metro, an older lady actually smiled with me. Wow!! This is what I call a change!!
So this is how one gets treated like a human being in Paris!!! No, seriously, all this to say that, I am not worried at all about this strange word- weight. I eat fruits, vegetables and try and get all the daily nutrients – without any excesses. Well, except for my ginger beer. I’ve got to have my Ole Jamaica Ginger Beer. Thank God for that Chinese store up at Strasbourg St Denis in the 18th district for selling ‘things Jamaican’. I mean, I don’t know what I'd do without plantain, salt fish and Ginger Beer.
So all I can say is: "you can just wait, my weight."
Arc de Triomphe behind, belly in front and cookies and cream in hand, hmmmm!
Caught in the act!
