If you read my Ottawa Adventures series of posts (see 2001) then you know that I was struggling for several months financially and wasn’t eating properly because I couldn’t afford to. To be fair, I grew up mostly not eating enough because we couldn’t afford to, and was 96.5lbs up to the year 2001. Sickly most of the time as well.
This year has been good to me financially (and in many other ways). Because of the lack of pizza last year, I ate 400 slices this year so far, over and above my other meals, and I’ve gained 65lbs. It’s mostly fat but some of it is muscle because I’ve been lifting weights and working out. I’ve got stretch marks on my legs, biceps and shoulders even though I have a slim build overall. My stomach unfortunately is 42″ and has no stretch marks. I’ll cut back on the pizza now, which should help me cut back on my stomach. In high school I was called Mr. Abs and spaghetti arms, looking at me now you’d never know it.
Food is needed often. You don’t technically have to have it every day but after a while, you’ll die without it. Growing up my stomach was usually growling with hunger pains. Some of my friends as well. We’d be at school and would dread when there would be silence in class because then you could hear our stomachs growling for food. In grade 1, 2 and 3 at Yorkview Public School I would rarely ever have a lunch. They had a system back then that all the kids who didn’t have food would get food from the kids who did have food. It was a good system. One person would give an apple, another would give half of a sandwich. If you were lucky someone would share their chips with you.
In middle school things were a bit better for a short while, but then by high school things got rough again. My friends would often times share their lunches with me and I would get invited to dinner almost every night which was amazing for me. At my house we ate rice, and curry. At my friends house we would eat every kinds of food imaginable. I’m even convinced I ate horse meat but I can’t be 100% sure because my friends have been known to trick me. One time I was invited over to my friend Sandy’s house for lunch and her and my friend Carla slipped some booze into my orange soda, which upset me because I wasn’t into that sort of stuff. I had too many responsibilities to also be a drunkard.
I remember art class the most, because it was one of the quietest classes plus one of my favorites. My stomach would growl and growl and my table mates would chuckle. I was a real starving artist.
I ended up getting so frustrated with poverty that I dropped out of high school to pursue business, figuring if I waited till after college I’d die of starvation anyway.
Things were different in Ottawa. I was starving, for just about 3 months maybe. But I didn’t care. It was no big deal because every since I gave my life to Jesus in 1997, my life has been filled with fresh purpose, so things like food don’t bother me. If I have it, I have it. If I don’t, then it’s just a minor frustration.
Spiritual food, well you need that to and I have a lot of that. God provides us all with a lot. He says in the Bible that creation itself declares God’s glory, and the universe declares His majesty.
When I was a kid, I missed out on pretty much everything. When I was a teen I missed out on a lot, as I got older I learned that you have to miss out either right now, to gain later on, or you can get something right now, and later on live in regret. I’d rather sacrifice now, and gain later on.
In Ottawa, for about a month, my diet was hot peppers. Why? I had a bag of hot peppers in my freezer, and nothing else. I’m going to enjoy my big fat stomach and smile every time I see it.
Checkout these cool Canadian films: Flowers and Garnet, Blood and Donuts, Road to Avonlea.