Andy Lien

My friend, Leanne, scanned and metformin hcl 1000 mg side effects posted some pictures from our school days on Facebook to observe Throwback/Retro Week.  They are really, really fun to click through…I think she’s got somewhere around 70 or 80 of them online.  When I returned from running around tarnation today, I found that I’d been tagged in the photo above.

I’d completely forgotten about this Senior picture of mine taken 15 years ago.

I look at this now and I smile at the sassy girl in the picture.  She knew she was different, but she was bolder because of that knowledge.  She hadn’t yet pondered her self worth or put herself through two Weight Loss Surgeries.

She wore that outfit to Prom her Junior year for which she was one of the emcees; she wouldn’t even entertain the notion of going with a date.  She wore pants not because she was avant garde, but because the fashion industry wasn’t making plus-sized formal gowns, yet.  She’s barefoot because none of her shoes were very attractive.  15 years ago, size 13 formal shoes for women hadn’t been made widely accessible for drag queens…so the options weren’t quite fabulous, yet.

She would get to wear a formal gown for her college Senior Dinner, after her second surgery…and after Bloomingdales figured out that there was a new growth market.

She was smart, but it turns out that she didn’t know very much.

She learned.

Sometimes, she learned the hard way.

She was pretty great, but she’s even better now because of the hard road since.

Thanks for the memories, Leanne.

I love you, too.