On August 26, of this year (2022), my beloved aunt – Sue Elizabeth Wills (1944-2022) – died after a two- and half-year battle with cancer. She didn’t like euphemisms and demanded that when I spoke of her death to use the direct terms like ‘died’ and ‘dead’, not ‘passed away,’ ‘deceased’ or ‘departed.’
She was a very accomplished woman whose achievements are frankly too great and many to be surmised in one blog. For those who are interested, she has her own Wikipedia page. Aunt Sue was also a woman who was famous for getting straight to the point and not sugar-coating anything. A trait I knew all too well in all the years I got to know her.
She was never shy of being completely direct with me, and she had no hesitation to critique or reprimanded me when she saw fit. One of the ways in which she was direct with me, was about my weight. Aunt Sue had no issue reminding me that my health was something I had to take seriously, and she used to force tap my stomach to remind me.
When I began my weight-loss journey back in 2021, it was her opinion that I was most enshrined too. If she noticed a difference in my appearance, then I knew I was doing something right. It was opinion I was most adamant on and she never beat around the bush.
Aunt Sue, for years, had been vigorously tapping my protruding belly and insisted I do something about it and in fact, it was her that led to me the discovery of the exercise bike. Upon her insistence, I began looking up methods on reducing belly fat and read about the positive effects of using the exercise bike.
I visited her every weekend to help out with the garden and other chores around her house, just like I had for the past seven years, but now I waited patiently. As the months went by and my figure began to slim, I waited for my aunt to notice.
The day came a month later when I asked her how I looked, reminding her of my new weight-loss program. She looked at me, from top to bottom. In the nano-second before she answered, I was a bit nervous. If she didn’t see any change, then was I really doing anything, or was I just wasting my time and not taking my weight-loss as seriously as I thought I was.
However, before I could fret, she nodded and told me that she did see a difference. She then encouraged me to keep going. It was a minor exchange of words, but it had a profound effect on me.
It inspired me to continue, that I was on the right foot, and that all I had to do was to keep going. As the months went by, I noticed she tapped my belly less and less – probably because there was a lot less of it than before.
Aunt Sue meant, and still means, very much to me, and not a day goes by where I don’t think of her.
