The Proof is in the Pudding

So a couple of weeks back my best friend R sent me a link to one of those high school reunion type sites. The "It" girl from high school had her own little page.

This It girl wasn't exactly nice, and we couldn't stand her in high school. She was beautiful, skinny, and very, very mean. Cheerleader, homecoming queen, and every other high school cliche you can think of for the most popular girl in school.

"She's fat now," I told R. By looking at her page you couldn't really tell, because every single photo of her was cut at the neck. Some included the random shoulder action, but for the most part it was all head shots.

"How the hell can you tell that? I mean, her face looks a little fuller, but not bad." R said.

Fat girl pose people. It's all about the fat girl pose.

Now I can talk about this as a real! live! former fat girl. I even posted my fat picture somewhere in the December Archives. It's kind of like how only homosexuals can say the F word (not my F word, their F word). It's allowed then and only then.

You see, when you have the dreaded double chin you either point your chin down or up when getting your picture taken. Pictures posted on the Net don't ever go below the shoulder area.

Now the one picture of her that had some shoulder action revealed no collar bone-another sure sign of a fat girl picture. I know this because the first time I saw my collar bone it was one of the most exciting moments in my life. A whole bunch of them had her posing with her hand under her chin, one of the best ways to disguise that pesky double chin.

I was proved right during our girl's night out last weekend (which went swimmingly well by the way).

We ran into her at the club. Even though I was expecting the weight gain, my jaw hit the proverbial floor along with my friends.

You are probably thinking that my friends and I are pretty insensitive and mean, and you'd probably be right in a way. I suppose it is never right to get some kind of satisfaction in seeing another knocked off their pedestal.

It may not be right, but if I'm going to be honest it is the truth. Seeing people like her kind of throw you back to those high school days, and mine weren't pretty.

Oh yeah I had a ton of friends and was pretty popular actually. I was also fat with glasses, which is never a pleasant situation for a 16 year old. It girl never picked on me personally, but I saw her rip other people to shreds on many occasions.

So you see this person that just seemed so perfect back then. This person that seemed to have everything you were lacking, and now she's a tank ass twice divorced woman with three kids from three different men.

I think you wouldn't be part of the human race if you didn't feel some sort of satisfaction over that.

Then something real surprising happened. I started to feel sorry for her.

Sorry for the girl that put soap and deodorant on the "not so clean" girl's desk in homeroom. Sorry for the girl that threw gum in the "shy girl's" hair on a daily basis. Sorry for the girl that had members of the football team kick "the nerdy guy" out of a party one time, and humiliated him beyond belief.

They say Karmas a bitch, but my God does her life suck. She stood before us a humbled and broken woman. In truth, how many of us can be held responsible for how we were when we were in high school? Our still developing personalities were really a reflection of how we were raised at that point. Really until you hit the 20's what you are and what you will become are two totally different people, especially if you are the type to grow as a person. At least that's my theory.

So it is always a little sad to see those that peaked in high school. About the only thing the It girl could talk about was high school. Remember when punctuated the beginning of every sentence, and if we started to talk about current things or even things after high school she steered the conversation back to that time.

It kind of makes you wonder if anyone ever told her she was smart, or funny, or nice. I'm betting on not, as those things wouldn't exactly pertain to her. She was probably only told that she was pretty or sexy or beautiful. Maybe those other descriptions would have fit if things in her life were less focused on looks and more on personality.

So what happens when the looks are gone? What is left for these people besides a bunch of memories and a bunch of people thinking you got exactly what you deserved?

It's just plain sad.