There was a time when I was slim, so skinny that if I stuck my tongue when I turned sideways, I’d look like a zipper.

But I was never petite.

While I consider myself to be medium height, I never reached the six-foot prediction made the pediatrician, his decision based on percentiles and charts. My growth spurt arrived in high school.

What also arrived during my high school days was a kitchen blender. Oy-vey!  When I came home from school – everyday – I made myself a chocolate shake to slurp while I did homework. Into the blender went Nestle’s Quick, I cup of whole milk, and six enormous scoops of ice cream… Yum!

And I never gained a pound. Glory days!

As I recall I went straight from Girls size 14 to a Misses 8. No Juniors or in-between sizes for me. While size 10 became a 12, I remained a medium in the S-M-L schematic.

Something down-shifted in the past few years: my metabolism. It’s no longer in hyper-drive, like in my teens, twenties, and thirties. Gosh, even into my forties and fifties my metabolism revved, probably because my career and social service obligations zoomed. Hustle-bustle, go-go-go. After all, my private practice catered to toddlers and I had to align with their tempo.

Then I retired and became a writer, a sedentary occupation if there ever was one.

My size predicament worsened when Covid arrived on our shores and our lives became locked down. Our gym was closed, our lives became confined rather than limitless, and the pandemic pounds arrived.

Our quarantine-cuisine wasn’t unhealthy, but depression-driven eating was larger portions and more wine. My husband and I sat to read, binge-watch TV, and, of course, I sat to write. I published a book of my once-weekly blog posts as we paused our lives to survive, yet not thrive.

I admit I’ve become more sedentary as I’ve aged and, while I’ve always been prone to nap after lunch, these naps have lengthened from the classic10-15 minute power nap into 30-40 minutes of read nap.

Sometime during the last decade, my clothing size has migrated upward. My body is an L.

What about you?