Reshaping It All Read Online Free PDF Page B

and ready to go so I could change in the car. I didn't wear fancy dresses of any kind, but I did have a few outfits that were my audition clothes. I had three pairs of OshKosh overalls, one purple, one turquoise blue, and the other denim, which I rolled up twice for a cuff. A white T-shirt and pink Converse high tops finished the look. Mom thought that bright colors helped me look cute and hip. I suppose that I did look hip back then, but times have definitely changed. She also packed a butane curling iron so she could throw a few curls in my hair and put it in pigtails or a side ponytail. Unlike pageants, which I've never been in, makeup was a definite no no for auditions. I had to look cute, fresh, and natural.
    Most days I was excited, but as the years progressed, or if the day was tiring, I'd be bummed out knowing that we had a long drive ahead. That's where McDonalds came in. It was well worth the drive if I knew a quarter-pounder, fries, and a drink were in it for me. Even when I was just six or seven, a Happy Meal didn't suffice. That little burger was far too small.
    I don't know how she ever found the time to teach me how to ride a bike, but she did. I remember climbing up on top of it while she held the back steady. There was an incline on our street that looked like a mountain at the time, but when I look at it now, I see it's barely a hill. After holding on to the back for two or three days, she knew I was ready to take off on my own.
    "Don't let go!" I said. But when we got to the top of the hill, she did. I didn't know it at first, but when I found out that I was riding alone, I was thrilled! It was smooth sailing from that moment on; I finally had wings to soar.
    Laser tag, hide-and-seek, and bike riding kept us busy on the street. I didn't play any team sports, but we were always active nonetheless.
    I was a regular-sized kid until about the age of nine. I wasn't big, and I wasn't small. When I hit nine years old, the chipmunk cheeks set in. It was probably a combination of exercising less, being that I was in school full-time, and eating more junk since I was exposed to more food. I played jump rope at recess but didn't get involved in vigorous games like kick ball or tag, and when lunch came around, it was a tempting new world. We had healthy lunches packed for us, but unfortunately those lunches were dull. While I ate cardboard, my friends feasted on Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, and cake. So like Michael Douglas in Wall Street, I became a master trader who managed to get my hands on their stock.
    I also started taking trips to the corner store with my friends. Soon enough, Pixie Stix, Fun Dip, and Big League Chewing gum were in a serious relationship with my tongue. I preferred sugar to salt and still do to this day.
    I don't think my parents realized just how much access I had to junk. They were doing their best to keep our diet focused on health while I was finding ways to sneak in a snack.
    Our family wasn't the only ones with a health-conscious attitude. Our friends Ryan and Andrew lived much the same way, and since our parents were best friends, we were together all the time. In the winter we spent almost every weekend with them, and in the summer it was almost every day. Health wasn't the only thing we had in common: my dad did gymnastics in high school and college, and their dad did too. He was an acrobat in the circus; their mom was too. In fact, after being a trapeze artist, she went on to be Tinkerbelle at Disneyland. Hooked up to a harness and cable, five foot tall Patty would descend from the Matterhorn, flying across the park with her wand.
    By the time I was ten, my all-too-famous chubby little cheeks had set in. I wasn't large, but I definitely wasn't thin either, and it was starting to show. That summer my sisters and I hit the park a little more often with Ryan and Andrew, which gave me some exercise. I was also away from the Ding Dongs at school. When I came back for the second season of Full House,