Plastic surgery can also be considered a journey for some. Here is my friend Brandie’s first step.
^^^ This is Brandie.^^^ We’ve been friends for 10 years and once even evaded the fuzz together (does anyone even say fuzz, or is it like fetch??)
Anyway, I digress. Brandie and I met while working at Victoria’s Secret. We were both poor college students and needed jobs so we could afford groceries, gas, and boxed wine. As we whiled away the hours at the store sorting, hanging, folding, and refolding the menagerie of lacey unmentionables, we talked about one day being able to wear (i.e. afford) it all. I’d always envied Brandie’s petite body. The girl can throw back a six-pack and still look hot in a slutty Halloween costume the next day. Meanwhile, I eat a cheeseburger and obsess about looking like a linebacker for like a week.
So when two years ago, Brandie texted me and said she wanted to get her breasts augmented, I was kind of shocked. We’d both since quit working for VS; she started working at a restaurant, and I began my career in plastic surgery. If you saw or spoke to Brandie in person, you’d never think she suffered from confidence issues. She’s covered in tattoos, isn’t afraid to strike up a conversation with anyone and is always down for an adventure.
Brandie doing some of the crazy, awesome stuff she does.
“I can’t wait to be sexy like you,” she’d say. We generally communicate via text, but I imagined her feverishly messaging me in the days leading up to her consultation about all the new clothes she’d buy, her future Halloween costumes, and her anticipated hot new sex life.
Of course, I was supportive of her decision, and also really glad that she trusted me enough to consider having Larry perform her surgery. When she came in for her consult, I asked her (as I do with everyone) why she wanted to have this surgery. What was the motivation? Brandie put it pretty simply: no matter what she did to feel feminine, she always felt like she was trapped in a little boy’s body. I let that sink in.
And there it was. Like a load of bricks. I totally understood what she and so many of my other patients were going through.
While she’s naturally petite, I don’t mean to say that she doesn’t work hard at keeping fit. She’s trained and competed in marathons, and has hiked some of the scariest and sketchiest hikes on the island (once with me, ugh). When I really thought about it, I realized that breast size was really the only thing about her body that she couldn’t control .
Example: I could have Michelle Obama-esque arms, I just don’t because I don’t work hard enough at the gym (also, there’s the wine habit). But Brandie literally couldn’t have a more feminine shape (i.e. larger breasts) without this surgery. And there it was. Like a load of bricks. I totally understood what she and so many of my other patients were going through.
Brandie living her dreams ♥
So I helped her set up the surgery, approved of her slutty Captain America Halloween costume and we never looked back. I remember her being so excited leading up to the surgery; it was all she could talk about. She loved Larry and even got her friend to book surgery with us, too. She said to me “I told Larry I want to go topless at the beach!” Apparently, it was at this moment that Larry understood why Brandie and I were friends. Facepalm.
I think “free” would be the best word to describe post-surgery Brandie. Generally speaking, she’s always been a happy person and, of course, she was excited AF when she’d recovered from surgery and realized she could actually feel sexy wearing the lingerie we’d once folded all those years ago. But more than this, I think she finally felt free to be the person she’d always wanted—unburdened by the lack of femininity she felt about her body.
In the time since her surgery, Brandie took a sabbatical and traveled solo around Africa, Asia, and Europe for 3 months. She also celebrated her 1 year “booberversary” with an actual party (I have photographic evidence). And I mean, why the hell not? She knew what she wanted and went for it without a single ounce of hesitation. I, for one, applaud her courage and serious commitment to self-fulfillment. Get it, girl. 