50 and growing.......

Jelly on a plate
Jelly on a plate
Wibble wobble wibble wobble
Jelly on a plate

A  long  time  ago  I  heard  that  you  stop  growing  at  the  age  of  16  well,  they  lied.........  you  might  stop  growing  upwards,  but  you  definitely  don't  stop  growing  sideways .........I  have decided  that  i  need  to take  the  perverbial  bull  by  the  horns,  or  should  I  say  the  FAT  by  the  wibble  wobble ....... .... Fat  that  really  disgusting  three  letter  word,  that the magazines  use   as  there  favorite  subject  to  cause  us all  to  fall into  a  deep state of  depression  about  our  shape,   you  can  be  anything,  and  do  anything  and  say  anything   but  you  just  cannot  be   FAT........  it  is   the  ultimate, body sin...........
What  can  I  say .........  the  FAT appeared  all over  my  body  over  night,  it  was  not  there  one  day,  and  the  next  my  skirts  were  a  little  tighter  than  usual,  my  shirts  were  a  little  stretched ...............

I had   always   been  thin,  in fact,  skinny,  so  was  not  looking  out  for  this FAT   monster,  it  sneaked  up  when  I  wasn't  looking......   when  I  wasn't  prepared............ it wasn't  invited .........  and  certainly  it  wasn't  wanted  .........   I  happened  to take  my  eyes  off the  scale  for  a  few  months  and  presto  there  it  was ........  FAT ............ I  put  on  a  few kilograms,    how  many  .. .. well  lets  just  say  that  if  you  measure  it  in margarine  tubs,  you   would  need  a  trolley  and  not  a basket  to  carry  it..............   ugh  scary  thought..

Somewhere  deep,  deep   in  the back    of  my  mind  I   knew  that  I  was  buying  a  bigger  size,  but  convinced  myself  that  is  was  the  make  of  clothes,  clothes  made  in  China  are  just   much  smaller  than  European  made  clothes.............  everyone  knows  that  the  Chinese  are  small  petite  people  ...............  not  Amazon  woman  like  us Africans............
When  my  daughter  went  shopping  with  her  Dad  a  while  ago  and  he  bought  a  XXL  shirt,  her  comments  were  "That  if  he   took  another  X  he  would  be  just  as  big  as  Grandad" .........  enough  to  make  anyone  starve  themselves  for  a  few  months ...............  so  before  I  take  any  X  at  all  I am  going  to take  the  bull  by the  horns  and  lose  some  of  the   Fat.................
My   stomach  is  the  problem,  with  two  caesarian and one  hysterectomy,  my  stomach  looks   like  a  hot  cross  bun, the   muscle  is  gone..........  gone ............  gone...........................  it  is  just  not fair  the  things  we  have  to do  to  our  bodies ...........  I  think  that  men  should have  a  turn,  to  bear  the  children  and  have  the  monthly  red  sports  car................
I  was  an  avid  gym  attendee,  but  over  the past  months   I  have  put  off going  regularly,   and  have  now  paid  the  price,  I  have  made every  excuse  know  to  man........  and woman............  but  the  time  has  come  to  hang  up  the  chocolate, the  sweets,  the  ice  cream  and  put  on  the  gym  shoes................ or  maybe  I  can  get used  to  the  fat ......................  no  Vitafit...............  here  I  come.................

Happy 50th Birthday

Yesterday was my friends 50th birthday, i cannot believe it, we have been friends for 37 years............................. .. i can remember the first time we met like it was yesterday, we met the first year at high school it was initiation day and we had to do all weird things like put one of our shoes in a big pile and then try to find it, we had to carry a pet in a match box, we had to wear our hats the wrong way round, we survived the day together and have been friends ever since, we were always the "smartest" kids in school i suppose today we would have been in the "nerd" group, it was either her or I who were top in the class in every subject, i remember she was the first one to get a TV and we would rush to her house in the afternoon sometimes so that i could watch the repeat, over the years as our own lives became complicated by husbands, children and careers, we have had times when communications were reduced to a few times a year but we never lost touch with one another....... and is that not what a true friend is, to be there when they need you, to just be there when the other is in trouble................

Now we speak to one another daily, we have over the past 4 or 5 years grown closer than ever before, i must admit we have sometimes, on the "odd" occasion, no longer been the goody two shoes from school, we have on occasion been very creative, but that is another story, which i doubt i will ever tell, if we have not heard from one another by lunch time we start getting withdrawal systems, it is almost like we compliment one another, like Jeckel and Hyde ..... like Laurel and Hardy ..... like Abbot and Costello ........... like night and day ........ like sunrise and sunset, we are completed different from one another and yet just the same .............we don't need to explain we just know what kind of day the other is having by the word HELLO .............. and that says it all. We have similar outlooks on life we have similar moral values and more that that we serve the same Lord. ................. what more could you ask for in a friend ................ The bible says better to have a good friend when you fall than to be alone...............

I always rag her at this time of the year, because she is now older than me by a whole 45 days, but she is now 50 a quarter of a century she is REALLY old and i am only 49 and 320 days which now feels like much younger that her.

Her daughter gave her a surprise birthday party on Sunday and for me it was like going to one of my own family functions, catching up with her brothers, the sister and brother in laws, the nieces and the nephews and the great nieces, her son and daughter and their "better" halves what an amazing time it was.

There is nothing like a get together of people who know one another well, there are no airs and graces, there is no need to be someone else, you can just be you.......... warts and all.

When i was 16 i had a major crush on my friend's brother, but he seemed to be so much older, married with children, and now it is like we are the same age, as you grow older the age gap just seems to disappear.

Much fun was had by all, as usual you had the "You should have , i could have , why didn't you tribe there .......... but it always amazes me how the people with the biggest mouths do the least work. I was so proud of what her daughter did, everything was done with love no everything was done with LOVE and isn't that what family is all about.................

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my special friend, may you have many more, and i hope that i NEVER catch up with you................... well at least not for another 45 days anyway ......................................