complete embarrassment , y ’ all .
working for customs at the airport had singled out and checked my luggage because it looked suspicious . I mean . What ’ s suspicious about two giant Halloween-sized bags of candy , peanut butter crackers , fruit snacks , and enough beef jerky to last at least three grown men a month ? To my surprise , nothing . Now , for a frame of reference , I was about three hundred and twenty pounds . Naturally my clothes were a bit larger and took up more space in my suitcase . I was interrogated by Zambian custom officials who suspected I was bringing an ungodly amount of clothes to sell . I had to pull out pieces of clothing one by one and show them that there wasn ’ t more than two weeks ’ worth . It was only an optical illusion because of the sheer size and volume of fabric needed to accommodate my larger frame . Cue
By the time I had straightened out my things , I began to wonder if I had made a mistake by coming on this trip . I decided to sleep off the feelings of inadequacy and try again the next day . This would be the perfect day , because we were going to meet the people we had been preparing to meet the whole year . We drove a short five minutes to arrive at an orphanage where I could hear the singing and clapping of the children from outside its entrance gate . My heart started to well up with even more joy . I locked eyes with several children rushing to greet us . I was one of the last ones to step off the bus , and when I did , every young child I offered my hand to would seem terrified and run away . What in the world was happening ?! Now I was repelling the people I came to meet and love on ?
One Zambian gravitated toward me , however . She was a robust and loud woman . Larger in stature , like myself . The children called her Momma Vivian . She came over and hugged everyone on our team . And when she came to me , she hugged me , pulled away with her hands still wrapped around my arm , and said these words : “ Oooooohhhh , you are fat . Very , very fat .” Now , Momma Vivian said this in a tone that I knew to be pure joy and complimentary . She even squeezed the fattest part on the back of my arms and made her way up to another squeeze of the
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