Thank You, Seats 29D, 29E, and 29F

I returned from a grueling business trip to Las Vegas yesterday and found some unexpected inspiration on the flight home. Since I'm a horribly overweight man I rarely look forward to airline travel because it means squeezing my big butt into a narrow seat and trying not to feel claustrophobic.

Much to my surprise, the biggest inconvenience I endured on the flight back to Cincinnati wasn't the size of my seat ... it was the size of the people in the seats in front of me. My assigned seat for the return flight was 30D and, as luck would have it, a morbidly obese couple was seated in 29D and 29E. When I say, "morbidly obese" I mean the husband weighed at least 400 pounds and the wife weighed at least 280 pounds. This dynamic duo was so massive that the thin young lady in seat 29F was forced to move to another seat in order to avoid being crushed against the window.

When the massive husband and wife team (now occupying seats 29D, 29E, and 29F) sat down all three seats moved back about six inches into row 30 ... the row where I and two strangers were seated. Remember, it's cramped enough as it is on a commercial airliner and now our row lost an additional six inches of space because the seats in front weren't designed to take that much weight.

To make matters worse, the obese husband decided he needed to lean his seat (or rather seats) back. So both seats 29D and 29E were pushed back an additional four or more inches ... right into the faces of the people seated in 30D and 30E (myself included). These two seats were pushed so far back that it was almost impossible to use the seat back tray tables. And that's the way I spent the next three and a half hours of my day on Tuesday.

All that being said, I bear no ill will toward the airline or even the obese couple seated in front of me. In fact, I'm thankful they sat in front of me. Enduring that situation inspired me to never allow myself to gain that much weight. What's more, I was inspired to continue to lose weight until I reach my goal weight. I even gave a portion of the snack provided by the flight attendant to the person seated next to me rather than eat it myself.

When I saw the couple in row 29 I realized how dangerously close Susan and I were to their weight. That's not the kind of life I want to live, and I know Susan feels the same way. I didn't write this post to brag about my own weight or to make fun of the couple in front of me on the flight. When I looked at them it was almost like looking into a mirror ... and I didn't like what I saw.

Thank you for helping me stay focused on improving my own health.