Have you ever been wrongfully accused...of being pregnant?

Sometimes it's what complete and total strangers say to you that really shock you and stay with you throughout your life. 

Good, bad, indifferent....we remember those scars. 

I'd like to say I stand before you today risen above all the nonsense. And today, this would not have bothered me. 

But back in 2012, when I was in in the midst of my heaviest years, living in my summer uniform of empire-waisted a-line dresses designed to disguise my ever-expanding hips, I remember it as though it were yesterday.

I was at a LGBT law conference in DC and had snuck out of a morning session early to get a pedicure. I picked out my color and some woman I didn't know told me I was beautiful. A little awkward, but I took the compliment.  Then when I was offered a mimosa and accepted it, the woman told the employee that she should give me whatever I wanted. Again, weird. But whatever I'm getting champagne so I'm rolling with it. 

5 minutes later I'm eyeing the two colors I've chosen to select one among them. This same lady says to me, "well, why don't you let the baby pick? Are you having a daughter?" 

Shock. Awe. Embarrassment. And probably way too sharply I replied in complete horror, "IM NOT PREGNANT!" 

So many things about that I will never understand - including with the fact that this woman was supporting my boozing it up at 11am on a weekday while ostensibly 8 months prego...but I digress. 

The point is, that stuck with me. And I still carry it. Yes, she was a complete ass. 

But I was so uncomfortable with my body and myself that I let it get to me. And carried it with me in my memory bank clear as day almost 4 years later. 

That dress sits WAYYYYYYYYYY back in the recesses of my closet today. 

And I remember exactly how I felt. 

I forgive her, and I forgive myself. It's memories like that, right or wrong, that made me decide to make a change and pushed me to keep going. That reminded me of where I wanted to go. 

Today, if someone accused me of being pregnant, I'd thank them for recognizing the glow on my face. It's probably from my last workout ;)