Why This Began

This blog is the result of a conversation between my precious 9 year old son Keaton and myself. While down in his room, after a conversation about getting him to clean his room, he got rather quiet and had a sad, lonely look on his face. This is the moment that a mother prays never comes. After much encouragement, he finally said to me, "I don't like being me."

Keaton is a beautiful, sensitive young man. His heart is big. The trial comes that his body is larger than other boys his age. As our conversation went on, through tears, he explained he doesn't like who he is. He wants a different body. This pain is real. I have felt it. I have wished these things. We have tried to make changes.

All I could think of was how our Heavenly Father loves us. He loves Keaton. But I know when we are hurting those are not always the words that make us feel better. I explained to him that God is perfect and would only make perfect things. Therefore Keaton is perfect. However, we have agency and opportunity to change who we are and how we look.

From our discussion we decided to keep daily track of our progress. I am six months pregnant and not moving around much but I can try harder to encourage and support Keaton as he makes changes in his physical activity levels. One main concern to Keaton is the mile run at school. He always is last and the entire class has to wait for him to finish. Keaton knows the kids love him anyway. One friend, Austin, after finishing his own mile, went back and ran the rest of Keaton's mile with him. He is a good friend. Still, Keaton wants to do better.

So here we are. I asked Keaton what he wanted this to be about. (Very proud of his answer.) He doesn't want it to be about getting skinny. He wants it to be about getting healthy. He wants to be healthy. One of his favorite books happens to be titled Diary of the Wimpy Kid. We took that name and tweaked it for our purpose. (I love my boy.)

This is our beginning.