A Beautiful Lady

My friend Juanita. One of the most beautiful people anyone will ever know! And when she smiles, all the world around her lights up! Kind to everyone around her, I have never heard her say anything but nice things about everyone.

But Nita is morbidly obese. She is 5'1" and weighs at least 450#. All the excess kind of falls down around her as she sits or stands. Her belly hangs down about halfway to the knees. The fat on her thighs and calves just drape down her legs in folds. When she sits, it appears that she is leaning forward because her enormous back won't allow her head to lean back. When she walks, it's painful to watch because she moves from side to side, arms extended somewhat to balance herself. I have no idea how she can sleep without suffocating from all her extra weight pressing on her lungs.

She is miserable about this. She knows how she looks, and is quite aware of the jaw-dropping looks she receives. Her entire body hurts because of the stress of carrying an excess of 300+ pounds. Her joints are probably all blown, her internal organs are all out of place. Somehow she manages to maintain proper hygiene, a very difficult task for someone of her size. Her physical condition is probably grave at best. I know her heart could give out at any time from the excess stress it's under.

She is probably a candidate for bariatric surgery, but doctors have told her any kind of surgery would be such high risk that she might not survive. Not to mention the fact that her insurance won't pay for that type of surgery and they struggle from paycheck to paycheck.

Her husband absolutely adores her, and she adores him! The sparkle in their eyes when they look at one another is evidence of an undying and deep love. I don't know how they manage any kind of sexual intimacy. Or if they gave that up long ago. But they seem to have a spiritual intimacy that goes beyond anything physical.

But this is her situation, this is her burden. She knows, her family knows, her friends know, that this is unlikely to change a great deal. Even if she were to somehow lose 100#, she'd still be morbidly obese! So she manages today, and she will probably manage tomorrow. We, her friends, have simply acknowledged that this is how our friend is. We'd all love to see her improve her health, but we also know that it is unlikely that she will be able to make much of an improvement. So we just love her anyway. We take her as she is, all of her.

Her beauty is much much more than skin deep! Her beauty comes from deep within her heart and soul.