scale

I am linking up today with dear Amber Haines and the concrete to abstract crew. Join us here.

I don’t have the kind of scale that measures our mass. I have a house full of teenage girls, all beautiful, all athletes, all with bodies strong and sure and able to run miles beyond me. Sometimes, worry crosses their minds – they wonder if they are gaining weight that does not behoove them in their pursuits. I see them hesitate over good healthy food and I rush to cut off such foolishness. I have been that route…had it consume me in fear and later console me in some feigned sense of control. I will not let it take up with them.

So, I keep no scale about. I offer them no option to let it number and name them. We choose health and exercise and good food. And so far, that has served their bodies and minds well. They press away ridiculous amounts of sugar and fats and fully embrace the good for them meals we cook together. And that brings all kinds of relief to me, especially on the cooking front.

I hope they measure the joy in their life from being able to do as they wish as they run hard and jump high. I hope they never measure themselves with some number which does not connote health or strength. I hope they love their bodies enough to care well for them rather than being consumed by them and some silly number on some scale.