Someone stopped to chat with me at the end of the school day.  What she said made me stop cold in my tracks.

She told me that she's been praying for me.  I nodded and smiled as I listened because I really wasn't sure where she was going with this.  Apparently she was under the mistaken impression that I am sick, and that my weight loss over the past year has been due to illness.  Good golly!

Due to budgetary belt tightening I have had to cut my expenses for groceries since I enrolled in school full-time.  Because I have been spending much less on groceries and because I have been walking much more, I have lost a fairly significant amount of weight.

I made a bee line to find a full-length mirror to have a little look see.  I only have one small mirror in my apartment which is over my bathroom sink, and I only use that to smile and then wink at myself every morning.  I took a good look at myself in the mirror and tried to be objective.  OK, so my collar bone is starting to protrude a bit, and I can feel all of my ribs.  The top half of my body is quite petite.  In fact I have been wearing a size petite medium on top, but that is too big for me now.  I probably need a size petite small now.

I am mentioning my size just in case anyone out there reading is already beginning their holiday shopping, and I happen to be on your list.  You can address the package to Hopeful Starving Student, a Tiny But Beautiful Village, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Now I cast my eyes upon my bottom portion.  I think I look great.  I can assure you that I am far from looking like a stick figure.

I can understand that the parent meant well and was only expressing her concern.  One of the teachers also asked me if I was sick at the end of the last school year.  She said that she was worried that I was wasting away.  At this point I have listened to hundreds of comments about the change in my appearance during the past year.  Some of them were very polite.  Some of them were less so.

People have been asking me what's my secret.  "How are you losing all of that weight?"  Well if you spend less than $149 per month on groceries, then you would lose weight too.  Trust me.  It is guaranteed unless you were buying $149 worth of Twinkies every month.  Of course, I cannot answer people that way.  It would be beyond snappish.

So what should I say?  I am still mulling that over.

How did I arrive at that amount for my monthly grocery allotment?  That is the amount for Wisconsin Food Share for a single person per month.  Just to be clear, as a full-time student I am not eligible for Food Share.  Nor should I be eligible in my opinion.

My financial status is temporary.  I like to consider myself to be in flux while I am in school full-time.  According to federal standards, I am living in poverty right now.  That's funny.  I don't feel poor.

In fact I feel the wealthiest I have every felt.  I don't mean that in terms of my bank account.  After I pay my rent tomorrow I will have just enough mad money to tide me over until I get my first paycheck of the school year.  Hopefully that will be very soon because I don't want the rolls of coins I have left to go from mad to truly incensed.  Settle down now.  Please.

I make myself chuckle sometimes.  I find it extremely helpful to maintain my sense of humor in this situation.  It really helps.  You may consider this to be dark humor.  I prefer to think of it as tinted with a touch of a periwinkle hue.  That is a lovely color.

I have given considerable thought lately to wealth.  What does it really mean to be wealthy?  Can wealth only be measured in terms of your holdings and account balances?  I don't think so.

I think that true wealth is really a state of mind, and it has everything to do with opportunity.  In my opinion it has nothing to do with my bank balance or lack thereof.  Athough I have had to cut back on so many things during the past 16 months, I don't feel as if I am truly lacking anything important.  I have everything I need and everything I truly want.

I feel wealthy.  My mind and heart are full.  I have an incredible sense of purpose when I teach and study.  I have a wonderful opportunity now to  become an even better teacher than I am today.  With each passing day I learn more and find new ways to teach the children and become a better version of myself.

Because of all of this I feel wealthy.  And I am very, very grateful.

Countdown:  30 days and counting until my student loans are disbursed for the fall semester!