Below you will find a verbose “character sketch” I wrote for an upcoming role-playing game our group is putting together. If the game goes anywhere, there may well be updates and recaps and short stories about their adventures. And, since I’ve got to make up back-up characters for this brutal Zombie campaign… there are more to come…
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Name: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Roth
Age: 28
DoB: September 9, 1985
Zodiac Sign: Virgo
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 200lbs.
Hair: Warm medium brown; cut short, wavy
Eyes: Green
Features: Large nose, strong jaw, beefy build.
Build: 42c – 38 – 40
Clothes: White linen trousers, a beige ruffle-hem tank, a thin gold belt. Sling-back gold heels, A large purse, beige/tan. A multi-chain gold statement necklace, complimentary gold earrings.
Purse Contents: Check book. Wallet. ID. Cash & Credit Cards. Library card. Kindle. Cell phone. Nude/pale lipstick. Neutral eyeshadows. Compact. Brush. Travel bottle of gel. Sample packets of Paleo Jerky. Baggie with two hard-boiled eggs. Salt shaker. Bag of raw almonds. Baggie with roasted pistachios. Baggie with dried beet chips. Baggie with dried fruits. Water bottle. Photos of her kids. Photos of her husband. Photos of her dog. Business cards for “LosingLizzie.com” and several paleo-friendly businesses in the area. Several sharpies for signing copies of her book. Wedding ring (on finger). Homemade hand lotion.
Backpack Contents: Cross-fit shoes. Yoga pants. Two sports bras – worn together. Socks. Exercise tank. Homemade deodorant. Bubble-wrapped glass jar of kimchee. Stress ball. Extra water bottle. Three copies of her brand-new recipe book.
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      Seattle is called the Emerald City for good reason. It is beautiful and lush and verdant. It is a mecca for people who love the outdoors.
      Lizzie Roth was not one of those people
      Growing up she was the big one – always a little chubby, always taller than the rest of the kids. More comfortable with a book or a video game – not to mention a bag of chips or a mug of tea with lots of sugar – than with the great wild wonderland outside, Lizzie went from mildly overweight to morbidly obese by the time she graduated high school.
      Most freshmen gain fifteen pounds their first year away from home. Lizzie, always one to buck conventions, lost fifty pounds and discovered a love of weight lifting while attending Whitman University. There was something powerful and primal about lifting heavy things.
      Though Lizzie had never lacked for self-esteem or self-worth, she had never really dated before. Her sophomore year, her roommate, Jerrica, set her up with Larry Roth, a physics major from Olympia. They hit it off right away and after some awkward questions about family trees – just to make certain they were not from the same Roth line – Lizzie and Larry fell in love with a long, lingering kiss under a harvest moon.
      Love was bliss, but Larry and Lizzie moved rapidly from the honeymoon phase to the comfortable phase. Larry had been a bit husky, but he gained seventy pounds over the next two years and ended school at about two-hundred fifty pounds. Lizzie faired no better, and all of her hard-won muscle was swallowed as she gained back every last pound she had lost freshman year – and then some.
      Graduation day arrived and Larry brushed the Dean aside, grabbing the microphone and dropping to one knee to propose to Lizzie; it was a stunt that became legendary at the college. It helped that she burst into tears and tripped on her gown, falling into the podium and cracking it in half.
      A small, but tasteful and rustic, ceremony in an old barn on his grandfather’s farm saw the pair married just shy of two months later on Saturday, July 12th, 2007. Their first child, a boy named Landon, was born in July of 2008. Their second, another boy whom they named Logan, was born on his big brother’s birthday in 2010. And then, coming right on her brother’s heels, little Langston was born in November of 2011.
      As 2012 arrived, Lizzie was sent to the hospital with horrible stomach cramps and vomiting. She was eventually diagnosed with a gastrointestinal disorder and celiac disease. Researching holistic medicine lead her to a fast-growing movement toward grain-free, dairy-free, junk-free, sugar-free lifestyle and after a few weeks of clean eating; Lizzie’s symptoms began to clear up, she slept like a baby, and yes – even began to lose some weight.
      Though she had always loved to write, she was an accountant by trade, and had not taken time to be creative in years. Now was her chance – in April 2012, she began a blog to chronicle her journey with weight-loss, transitioning her kids to a paleo lifestyle, and her newlyrediscovered love of lifting heavy things. LosingLizzie.com, she called it, and it was not an overnight success. Yet within months, she was being linked to by other, popular Paleo bloggers and as the year went by the blog exploded. She was tapped to produce a recipe book – all sorts of kid-friendly recipes to help families with small children make the transition to a healthier way of life.
      In addition to losing a hundred pounds – so far – Lizzie has become super-active in the Cross-fit community and is a strong voice promoting the image that strong is beautiful, that you don’t have to be skinny to be healthy…
      Fast-forward to August 2013 and Lizzie is on a book tour; flying around the country to promote the book and talk about her story at the Primal Festival at the convention center at Hershey on a beautiful, summer day…

Note: Image is “hilda” by hilda67 from SXC.hu