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FAT! SO?

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They were supposed to meet in Vegas in October, but Cathy's dad got sick and she had to close the store and take an accounting job so she could fly back and forth to Florida.

Dave visited her at her sister's house in Pensacola on New Year's Day; Cathy's father died January 8. It was a Friday afternoon, and Dave was working in Tampa. He got in his car and drove straight to her sister's house. He didn't make it to the funeral, but his being there showed Cathy that he cared a lot about her. He made her feel better than her family did. He saw her every weekend in January.

"We all like Dave," Ruby Lee says.

"He fits," Carlette says.

They liked him, and they liked how he obviously cared for Cathy. He loved her green eyes and her gap-toothed smile. He liked it that she cared so much about her family, didn't put on airs and didn't dress up too much to meet him.

Her size doesn't matter to him, he says. He just looks at Cathy. He has dated both skinny and large women, but he doesn't have a preference.

"I don't look at her that way," Dave says. "That's not where this relationship is -- that's not what it's all about. I could care less if she was 90 pounds or however she is now. I fell in love with her because she's a wonderful person. She's a very open person, very caring, very family-oriented and a very nice person."

On Valentine's Day he told her he loved her. She said she loved him too. They sat in his car and listened to Reba McEntire sing "Forever Love"; he decided that's their song.

Dave and Cathy have seen each other every month since. They talk on the phone three times a day and chat on-line at night. Cathy always knows where he is; if he's going out to dinner or to a movie, he calls to let her know.

When he drives 18 hours to see her, he stops and calls every two hours. When he leaves, they both cry. Usually Cathy insists on sleeping alone; he's the first person she has ever been able to share her bed with. She has always been an independent girl, but she tells Dave that she wants him to take care of her. She wants him to make all the decisions.

The doctors told Cathy that she most likely can't have kids. She doesn't ovulate regularly. She usually gets her period every other month -- and that's with birth control pills to regulate it -- but she has gone as long as six months without menstruating. Pregnancy, they say, would put her and the baby at too great a risk.

But she likes children, so she plays with her nieces and nephews. And she's trying to start a big brother/big sister program for NAAFA members and large children.

Dave doesn't mind that Cathy can't have kids. He's 54 and already has two sons in their twenties.

Right now they're planning that he'll retire in about 18 months, then move to Florida, where she'll join him. Their wedding should be around Christmas 2000.

"I love her," he says. "She's very wonderful to be with."

Cathy's going to make her own dress with an ivory satin bodice, an empire waist and an A-line skirt made out of candlelight silk. "So it'll be real flowy," she says. She doesn't want a train.

Her wedding colors are going to be red, black and candlelight. The bridesmaids will wear black gowns and carry long-stem red roses. She's not sure whether to have her best fat friends like Frannie as her bridesmaids or her nieces -- definitely not her sisters, because she has too many to choose from.

Near the Florida/Alabama border is a Catholic church that sits on the water. The front door opens to the ocean; that's where she wants to get married.

"It's real small, though," she says.

Which could be a big problem. But she's sure it'll be fine. Her guests can always stand on the sand -- she always wanted to be married on the beach. The church is pretty, she likes it, and after all, size isn't everything.

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