I was 20 then. I am almost the same age he was when he had his fatal car accident. My eating disorder began a year later. But I am not alone. In fact, I have never met a person who has bulimia who did not suffer a life-changing loss.
Some people lose their parents through death or divorce.
Others feel a loss when a sister or brother goes off to college or marries. Or when we move to a new town and lose our friends. Some of us mourn the loss of childhood, or of a childhood dream. Sometimes bodies betray us. Young ballerinas become too big-chested to perform professionally.