All About Ben
Bt Ben Robinson

A few weeks ago I was speaking with my friend Roddey Gettys, COO of Baptist Easley hospital. I asked Roddey if the hospital had any job openings. I think Roddey was a little concerned because I asked about the “chief of surgery” position.

It went something like this: Roddey asked what I knew about performing surgery, and I said “You reckon they will ask that in the job interview?.”
Roddey changed the subject, for some reason.

“Are you still wanting to lose weight?” he asked.

“Well, I was hoping to get back to where I could fit into pants that didn’t have a bunch of X’s in front of the size,” I admitted.

“Why don’t I set you up with the girl who does our hospital nutrition program?” Roddey asked.

“That sounds good,” I said. “Is she good-looking?”

“By set up I meant set it up so that you can work with her to lose weight,” Roddey said.

“Does she have a weight problem?” I asked.

“No, I meant she would work with you so that you could lose some weight,” Roddey said.

“Me?” I asked, then thought for a second. “Well, if that’s the way you want to work it.”

He gave me the young lady’s name and office phone number. It took me a while to get in touch with her, which made me think perhaps she had seen me before.
The old joke rephrased is that a fairy was told she had to either create a bridge across the Pacific Ocean or help Ben Robinson lose weight. The fairy took one look at me, then said to the top-fairy, “You want two lanes or four lanes?”

She was busy with her job, but we finally got in touch with each other after a few weeks of missed phone calls. By then I had started to waver.

“I can lose weight by myself — I don’t need any help,” I lied to myself, never bothering to ask myself why if I could do that on my own, had I not already done it.

I decided I would look at my new weight-loss teacher, find some problem with her, then dismiss her from my service.

So I finally met my teacher, took a look at her and searched for flaws … and found none. She didn’t even have the slightest belly bulge.
OK then, I’ll not like her personality, I decided.

That didn’t work either. By the time I had spoken to her for a few minutes, I was wanting to lose weight as a favor to her.

So we went to the next step — my first weigh-in. I stepped on the scales in her office, and I could have sworn I heard the scales say “ouch!”
“That’s more than I expected it would be,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” she said with a smile. “That information stays in this office, just between you and me.”

“Embarrasses you too, huh?” I asked.

The information she gave me looks promising. One book says “Dieting doesn’t work,” which sounds as if I wrote it. Another book ties weight loss to having a closer walk with God, and that’s good, because if I don’t start watching my weight more, I could be visiting God personally sooner than I have planned to.
So the program began this Tuesday. I’ll try to keep my readers posted on how things go, because that way I’ll have more pressure on me to get to a normal weight quicker.