Who's that girl?

I meant to write about this over the weekend and it slipped my mind. How, I'm not sure, because it's actually one of those "WHOA!" moments that a fat girls dreams about.

I remember as a kid I played with my Barbie dolls and one of my favorite scenarios was to take my plainest doll and dress her frumpily, make her hair look simple and pretend that she was one of those girls who just blended into the background. Then I would imagine there was some sort of social function, like a dance or a party and I would transform my ho-hum girl into a beautiful woman. I'd jazz up her hair, dress her in my most sparkly outfit and find the greatest shoes. She'd walk into the room and the other dolls would whisper back and forth "Who's that?" I know Freud would have had a blast with that one because honestly, I always wanted that for myself.

I was never beautiful growing up. I was plain, chubby and a little on the frumpy side. I always imagined that same scenario for myself....the social event being a wedding, class reunion or something along those lines. Someday, my peers would see this huge transformation from chubby Melanie into beautiful Melanie.

I'm not to the point yet where I'm getting the double-takes (at least if I am, I'm not noticing them)...but I did have a mini-transformation moment Friday night. There was a wedding reception and many of the guests were people I hadn't seen since late winter/early spring. Some of them follow me on Facebook, so my weight loss wasn't completely shocking to them, but for many, they hadn't seen me since Sweater Season.

I can't tell you how many people nudged their spouse, asking them "Is that Mel?" But I do know that many people gave me that awkward "Hmm, do I know you" look before they recognized my voice. It's odd, actually. I've looked pretty much the same since high school, so for someone NOT to recognize me is completely foreign to me. I have to say, I kinda like it.

The surprised look on people's faces is probably my favorite part of this whole thing.

I like playing "Who's that girl?"