The part that pulled me up short was when she said, "I guess I'd really let myself go." I loathe this particular phrase. When I hear it, I hear a woman who is basically groveling for her failure to adhere to social norms of dress and grooming (if about her personal appearance), home care, child care, etc. There is _way_ too much stuff to do in anyone's life; we should all try to be compassionate and not apply pressure. But in this particular case, she was saying it immediately after saying she wasn't even on her own priority list, and I got a little flash of her riding on a bus, looking out the window as she pulled away from her self, waving sadly goodbye.
Okay, maybe I don't loathe that phrase so much. Sometimes, it's not about social pressure to conform -- it's about having given up things that you really wanted to do for yourself, and just couldn't find the time.
