The meeting topic on Saturday was about reducing stress and we spent a little time talking about it, but what really has stayed with me this week were Dan and Harmony.
Dan is Harmony's dad. They come to the Weight Watchers meetings together. On Saturday, both of them achieved a milestone. I honestly don't remember Harmony's milestone, but I do remember that she was so happy and excited and proud of herself. Her face was just a big smile.
I do remember Dan's milestone. Lana, our leader, walked over to him and she was a little misty-eyed. Lana was delighted to give Dan his 100 pound charm. The dude lost 100 pounds!! The look of absolute joy and pride on his face was the most beautiful and profound thing I've seen for awhile. In his typical self-deprecating manner, Dan told us that he was only (only!) half way to his goal weight and he showed us all a photo of himself that was taken 75 lbs ago. Then he showed a shirt he used to wear 100 lbs ago. That shirt darn near wraps around the man now.
Harmony was quietly and joyfully filming the scene when Lana gave Dan is charm and as Dan was telling us all how he has struggled but stayed with it. Harmony was smiling the whole time, even bigger than when she got her milestone charm. It was so easy to see how thrilled she was for her dad.Watching them gave me all the feels. I was leaking tears through Dan's whole talk.
When I got out to my car and I thought about Dan and Harmony, I just totally lost it. Grief found me in my car that morning. Here's the thing: A year or so after I first joined Weight Watchers, my Dad joined Weight Watchers. He told me that he saw how it was working for me and he wanted to lose weight too. Of course he was going to meetings in California and I was going to meetings in Utah, but we would talk about our progress and cheer each other on. I did go to some meetings with my dad and we always told the other members how we supported each other even though we lived in different states.
Then Dad got sick and his illness took off his extra weight and he didn't go to Weight Watchers anymore after that. He still supported me, though.
Seeing Dan and Harmony and their love and happiness for each other was captivating. It just made me miss my dad all over again for the umpteenth time for a reason I hadn't even thought of yet.
It's always gonna be like this, isn't it?
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