No, I'm not celebrating my 60th birthday; my 50th is not until November. But, I am celebrating the loss of 60 pounds!! Speaking of birthdays though, I was contemplating how people tend to commemorate a birthday's importance by its number, and how those numbers compare to weight loss milestones.
A baby's first birthday is always a big deal: balloons, gifts galore and a huge candle on an over-sized cake. When I lost my first pound, there was no cake, obviously, but standing there in my bathroom in my birthday suit, I did emit a barely audible "yes", that I had finally started my journey down the scale. After the first birthday, the ages 2, 3 and 4 seem to get some attention, but not as much as the next big number, five. For the fifth birthday, invitations go out, gifts are more extravagant, a clown is hired and the cake is even bigger. After I lost my first pound, the second, third and fourth were nice, but, I couldn't wait to see my fifth pound disappear into thin air. No clowns in attendance at this shin-dig, except for me getting on and off the scale a few times. Once again, "yes" escaped my lips. Now on to number ten.
The tenth birthday is probably more important to the child than anyone else. Fifth-graders feel more mature than fourth-graders, and the passage from being a 9-year old to a 10-year is a giant leap for kids' self-esteem. My scale took a leap from 5-10 pounds in a week, and there was little maturity on my part when I hit that 10th pound and squealed my "yes" loud enough to scare my cat. On to fifteen. But, dare I skip thirteen? According to Jewish Law, when Jewish children reach their age of maturity, the big number is thirteen. This is when B'nai Mitzvah is celebrated, and the former 12-year olds, now become responsible for their actions. A Mitzvah is a blessing, and when I lost 13 pounds, it was indeed a blessing worthy of a resounding "yes"! Still, the number 15 was looming in the not-too-far distance.
In Spanish-speaking cultures, young girls celebrate Quniceanera at the age of 15. In American culture, girls celebrate Sweet Sixteen. Quinceanera is not just a big birthday party. It's more like a debutante ball. There are rituals and traditions. The Quinceanera enters the room in an extravagant gown walking arm-in-arm with her father, or she goes down a set of stairs and meets her father at the bottom and they dance the first dance together, usually a waltz. The party can go from sunset to sunrise, and at the end, the Quinceanera herself, tosses one of her baby dolls to eagerly awaiting girls, as a sign that her childhood is over. When I lost my 15th pound, I tossed out an old pair of pants to an eagerly awaiting dumpster shouting "yes, yes, yes!"
Important birthdays after 16 tend to be 18 and 21. More importantly, my scale seemed to skip those numbers and went right to 25 in a short amount of time. This was a major milestone for me not because of the number, but because people finally began to notice something different about me. Most commented on my new hair (not), or my new glasses (not) or my tan. Someone said I looked more like a rectangle than a circle. I think that was a compliment. YES!
Speaking of circles, birthday milestones are all about the zero as in 30, 40, 50 and 60, and I can attest to that when it comes to the scale. Losing thirty pounds was fabulous, the dress sizes were coming down. Having lost 40 pounds was an amazing feeling; the equivalent of losing 160 sticks of butter! If my 50th birthday gives me the same thrill as when I lost 50 pounds, then, I'll be a happy camper.
Now that sixty pounds have disappeared from my body, I sometimes look at my hand and wonder whose it is! Those skinny fingers are mine? Yes! That thinner ankle is mine? Yes! Wait! Those are my thighs? Yes! I'm not thin by any stretch mark, but I am thinner. I guess the next milestone will be 70 pounds, and then on to 83 pounds. Eighty-three? In Jewish tradition, a second B'nai Mitzvah can be celebrated thirteen years after one reaches 70-years old. The logic being that a "normal" lifespan is 70 years, so that an 83-year old can be considered 13 in a second lifetime. If I can lose 83 pounds, I may as well go for the granddaddy of all milestones and reach 100. That would be pounds and birthdays, I hope. YES!
