Sista: Here I Am

“Here I am! I hate my arms! No seriously, I hate my arms! On most days they wave before I do. Seriously! They’re like wings except I don’t get to fly. (Well I guess I could try!) They’re just weird and wrong and excess but most importantly they are battle scars from weight loss and a reminder that I never want to fill those arms back out.

My arms are a reminder of change. No matter how ugly they are. You know, change is that way. I mean on the other side of change I hated how big and full my arms were. I wanted smaller arms. Now I’m on the other side of that mountain. The arms are smaller, but the skin isn’t. Change. In my head, most days, I still see huge arms. My body has changed but not my mind. Which means nothing. The mind has to change. I have to own the physical and the mental.

So wave arms. Wave goodbye to old Tam.

And new arms with horrible skin, wave hello to new Tammy.

It is what it is!

And so it is!”

-TR

Tammy Rhodes was born in Florence and raised in Muscle Shoals. “The Shoals is my home and I love it here.” She is an Administrative Assistant at the University of North Alabama, and is a minister, singer, director, actress, and poet. “I work in one of the most diverse offices on the campus of UNA. I am a proud dog mommy to my true loves, Shug and Doozy! I’ve been known to hum a little bit and to spit some spoken word every now and again. But mainly I am a thriving spirit trying every day to leave a positive imprint on the world.”