When I was a little pup, I wanted one thing more than anything in the world...

...TO BE BIGGER!

I was always a very skinny otter. And wherever I went, others ALWAYS reminded me— "Eat. Eat. Grow taller like your cousin." "Eat more la! Gain weight! Get bigger!" So like all children, I listened and listened and listened.

Worse of all, I had no chest! I had a little nook that was sunken, hollow, unmanly. I needed to have a full man-chest like my manly otter heroes!

As I grew up, I obsessively did push-ups, ate more, and puffed my chest out in public. It was...exhausting. I even had to lie when I went swimming! I told my classmates I was hit by a hammer when I was a kid, and that's why my chest was so sunken. Heh, they believed me...

I got a little older, taller, furrier. Nothing much changed. I liked being fit, but I was never the "buff" type. I kinda let it go. But everytime I looked in the mirror, I was reminded of all those words from others and myself. I hated my chest gap even more.

I asked my super-gym friends about it, and they said, "Eat more protein and work out". So I did... to various degrees of success.

I even tried Dragon boating during college! The super macho trainer told me: "OTTER" "MAN!!!" "UP!!!" Man up? I vomit up ah! I left after the first lesson. Stress...

Finally, I resigned myself to fate. I would never be a manly-otter man, and I would never have a full chest.

Then time, love and life taught me to be a husband, and then a father. It was tough, man! I had new things to think about and to care for. My sunken chest didn't seem so important anymore. I mean, what was more important was getting my little pup to sleep!

And I was terrified of fatherhood! I had no natural skills to deal with this! "why is she crying?!" "am i holding her wrong?" In a panic, I asked my mother what to do. She told me to relax! These things would come naturally, because...

Because...

WAAAAAAA

PLOP.

Because...

Sometimes, you're just the way you need to be. For right now.

So to all the guys out there— in case no-one has ever told you, here it is.

Right now— you're just the way you're supposed to be.

And you're doing great.

THE END.