My mother put me on a diet at age 5 because an uncle said I was getting too fat. I've seen pictures of me at that age. I was perfectly normal.

This is the same mother who used to say things like, "Oh, those three potatoes look so lonely on that plate. You could eat them, couldn't you?" "Would you like some apple pie with your diet Coke?" In reference to a 20-lb weight loss that put me at 145, the smallest size I ever achieved as an adult, "Oh, well, that was a nice start."

I loved her and she loved me, but it was, at times, a very strange relationship. I miss her.