Well, there is coffee and then there is COFFEE. I am quite attached to my coffee, but I must acknowledge that I keep my coffee on the light side. Hardcore COFFEE drinkers would probably not even recognize what I drink as the byproduct of a coffee bean. Hence, those coffees that put hair on your chest – they are not for me. I acknowledge that in this area I am a lightweight (and by that I do not mean that I am light on weight – merely that I am a wussy, a weakling, a wimp).

My lightweight status is not merely associated with the heartiness of my coffee beans – in my life being a lightweight is endemic. I am a lightweight in a multitude of areas and over time I have just learned to embrace the lightweight in me.

Most people associate the term lightweight with alcohol consumption. Yep, I am part of that lightweight club. Give me three sips of wine and I am already giddy… a whole glass and who knows what I might say…a bottle and I wake up married the next day. Needless to say, I have given up drinking bottles of wine and only drink a full glass on rare occasions.

Sometimes you will hear lightweight associated with the inability to endure gory or disgusting scenes or sounds. Yep, I am part of that lightweight club too. I simply do not have the stomach for injuries and open wounds. Even hearing someone vomit is pushing my limits (forget about having to see or smell it – I am gagging just thinking about it). You might wonder how I survived being a parent seeing as children tend to be one injury or disgusting scene after another – I wonder that too. One of my darling children once spread their poopy diaper all over the wall and crib. I have no memory of the actual cleanup as I have blocked that from my mind – too traumatic.

Those who are not “rugged” as it applies to nature are sometimes referred to as lightweights. Yep, I am part of that lightweight club as well. For me, nature is a day trip and roughing it is a fully-equipped RV. As a child my father had us camp across the United States (half of that was in a small camper and the other half was in a tent). Now, they do make some fairly impressive tents and I will admit that our tent was noteworthy with two rooms and windows, but a tent is – no matter how lovely – still a tent.

Those who were formerly known as “scaredy-cats” often earn the label lightweight. Yep, count me in on that lightweight club too. I do not like to be frightened and I do not seek it out. I do not watch scary movies or movies with a lot of violence. I also try and stay away from movies or the chronicling of real life events where children are hurt or killed – I simply haven’t the heart to be immersed in such stuff. I am amazed at folks who love scary and horrifying things and are able to compartmentalize them in their mind for what they are. Me, I don’t forget about them and they turn up in my dreams. No thank you – I’ll take comedies and happy endings even though I know that is not wholly representative of reality.  I’d rather have Ben Stiller show up in one of my dreams than a slasher in a mask (and yes I admit that I love Meet the Fockers!).

So there you have it. Not at all painful to admit that I have sensitivities and vulnerabilities…indeed it is quite cathartic to embrace my inner lightweight (and it has been effective in reducing my divorce rate and improving the quality of my sleep as well – bonus points).

Have you embraced your inner lightweight? If so, please do share…us lightweights have got to stick together.

Day thirty-four of the new forty – obla di obla da

CC