EXTRA! EXTRA! Don't read all about it.

Something I don't understand, and will never understand, is how people can be so small-minded. It baffles me that they can get through life efficiently and semi-successfully.

I heard a saying a little while ago, and when I say "heard", I'm pretty sure I mean repinned on Pinterest. It said "Don't pass judgement someone who has it harder than you. You don't know what storm God asked her to walk through."

Well, just 30 minutes ago, I went outside looking for our cat. I noticed a magazine stuffed in our white picket fence gate. It was an OK magazine and said in big bright yellow letters on the front cover "diets that work!" Oh, did I mention these words were framed by two voluptuous bikini-clad celebs?

This is not news to many of my friends, but my mom is overweight. She has been her whole life, and will always struggle with it. She has accepted it, she has addressed it, and she does work on it. Medically speaking, she is actually in great health. She has low cholesterol levels, her heart is fine, her blood pressure is fine, and she is not close to being diabetic. She's healthy. But people see her exterior, and think she is just lazy and needs to lay off the sodas (of which I have seen her drink 0 in my entire life. Zero.)

I'm deeply saddened and hurt for her because this was one of our dear neighbors whom we all adore. We don't know who left if because they ripped off the address label on the magazine.

When I saw it, I was immediately angered. How dare someone pass this kind of judgement on MY mother! How dare someone think that Kim Kardashian's diet will work on my mom... a middle-class, single, working mother. (No offense to KK. Their show is one of my guilty pleasures! Shh!) But honestly ... according to this neighbor, they think they have the answer for my mom in the latest tabloid to her weight loss.

I took offense to this and have lost respect for whoever left it in our gate. They couldn't even say "Oh, hey! I saw this great new diet in this magazine, and I think I'll try it. Want to try it with me?" It's less offensive than just cowardly leaving it in our gate for us to find. Man up and tell us she's fat. It's not like she doesn't know.

So while I'm fuming about this for my mom, because I know how much of a struggle it is for her, she starts laughing the minute I show her.

I'm speechless, and she's saying "I wish I knew who this was so I could tell them 'THANK YOU! I didn't know I was fat!'" with a grin on her face the entire time she's saying this.... completely un-sarcastically.

I sat down and started writing this blog post, and I hear her over on her computer burst out laughing. I asked what was so funny and she said "I just can't imagine... why does someone think Kim Kardashian's diet will work on me?! They're just so close-minded! Those poor people."

I wish we could all just laugh things off like my mom does. It's wonderful. She's like a duck. She lets shit roll off her back because it won't do anything but weigh her down in life. Like laughing at someone when they say she's fat.

So, the moral of this post is please think twice before you judge someone based on what you see or hear. Because we're all handling a different battle, and we're all handling our battles differently.

...and my mom is awesome.