This is such a tremendously good piece of writing, Shaunta. Emotional eating is a habit I learned from my mother. I love her so much and I love that we’re alike in all the good ways. But I don’t want to inherit her self-disgust, embarrassment at taking up too much space in the world, and her stagnation.

A few months before she died, she was very sick and was in the hospital with kidney failure. On a day when she felt her worst and told me she wanted to die, she made me promise to lose the weight and not be like her.

Today is exactly six months since she died. Her 80th birthday would have been the day before yesterday. She would have been celebrating her 54 anniversary the day after tomorrow. I haven’t done what she made me promise. I think it’s high time that I honored her and honored myself.