Our special invite came through last week, I booked my slot for 6am (!!) on Thursday morning and was up with the seagulls looking out for a bargain. Well it was a dream come true, the wonderful Speedo swimsuits, for the larger busted lady, were more than half price and I stuck two in my virtual shopping basket and headed for the checkout.
There are a few things I love about swimming, first is I can fit it round my timetable. Second, I don't have to get dressed up to go. Third is, I get as long as I want in the shower and can pamper away to my heart's content
. The best thing though about going to the pool is that we are all different shapes and sizes. Tall, lanky, short, chubby, pear shaped, apple shaped, tanned, ghostly white, smooth, bumpy, flabby or toned, yet we all have to get that piece of lycra enforced fabric on and walk round the poolside before dipping into the water and nobody is bothered at all.
In my book I think I will have a section where we all have to walk about in our dookers ( swimwear) at work or school and just get used to the fact that, hey we're all different...now, who cares?
Ellie lent me a book recently and there was a section in it about how ridiculously led by the media we are. We look at ourselves and judge what we see through the eyes of people who want to sell us stuff and constantly tell us if we were the perfect weight and size that we will be happy and contented...rubbish!
I know that according to my bmi I am overweight, but not yet obese...phew, thank goodness for that, but hey, if I cut off my leg I could almost be the perfect weight and what happens if , like many amazing women I know, I needed to have a double mastectomy tomorrow, would that make me suddenly a healthier person because my weight dropped by 3 stone overnight?
Truth is, it is actually much healthier to be a lot over your 'ideal' weight than it is to be 5% underweight. Fat protects your bones, keeps your hormone levels steady and isn't the all round baddie that the world makes it out to be.
As for looking amazing...you do! No really, how many people do you know that you care about how they look,fat or thin, if they are happy and smiling?
I don't know any of my friend's that I would like any better for losing a stone in weight....I don't care.
Do it if it's affecting your health and needs to be done, but otherwise, get on and lead a happy healthy life, full of fun, glasses of wine, occasional sugar hits and whatever takes your fancy. Don't let your shape stop you from getting out there and enjoying life.When your weight stops you from doing the things you want to in life, or is effecting your health, then you should address it, but as a health issue , not an image one.
On that note, I decide that David and Vanessa's wedding was the day to wear my 'Celebrate your luscious curves' dress that I got on-line a while back. I'm fifty next year and have never had any major health issues, so time to shine and make the most of what I've got. Fantastic hair, teeth that even my dentist has asked if he can use for advertising, no bingo wings ( apart from if I wave really wildly at someone across the room!), passable legs that I can walk and dance with and a sense of humour that will take me far past fifty and into old age!
See, aren't I fab? Would you like me any better if I was super skinny? .....I think not!
David and Vanessa live in Aberdeen, but Vanessa is from Banff, so they had settled on Duff House and the Springs for their day.
It had been forecast earlier in the week for gale force winds and thunder storms, but thankfully despite a drizzley start to the day, it brightened up beautifully. We drove up to the house and I was thankful that I had sprayed a bit of extra hairspray on my locks as the wind was rushing through the trees as the leaves held tight. The Groom, David, his best man, brother Niall and four groomsmen were in the South drawing room going through the motions for 'operation going down the aisle'. Niall is a Sergeant in the army and took charge, knowing that as there were four bridesmaids and three flower girls to add to the bridal party that everything needed to go with military precision.
The room was decorated with bird cage floral displays in vintage colours, very pretty.
Chairs filled up as the guests arrived and we sat listening to the pianist play. Two o'clock came and went and still no sign of a bride. 35 minutes later, Robin came in an announced that she had indeed arrived but would be a few minutes yet. As she stepped out of the car her dress got caught in the wind and wrapped around the car tyre, so a quick clean up was called for and the wedding could begin.
The bridesmaids wore full length dusky grey chiffon dresses with lace bodices covered in silver sequins. the flower girls were in cream and as Vanessa came in on her Dad, Shaun's arm , she looked stunning in an antique cream lace, ruched dress, with a flowing lace veil trailing behind. Ethan, the page boy, decide he wanted to slip behind Vanessa to see his Granda and caught her veil on his way round creating a real 'Madonna' moment as Paul so adeptly put it later on. She recovered beautifully, veil intact..
During the ceremony Robin spoke about a study that had been done over the life time of over 500 men in America, by a Dr George Valliant. They were from all walks of life and examined every two years at least.
His conclusion was that, "warmth of relationships throughout life have the greatest positive impact on 'life satisfaction", or in other words..... Happiness is love.
Readings were read and hands were tied and soon the new Mr and Mrs Raeper walked down the aisle in perfect formation with all the bridal party.
We had been asked to go outside and have a group photo on the steps outside the house and then climb the considerable number of stairs to the 'Long gallery' at the very top of Duff House for a well earned drink of home made lemonade.
I could go reminiscing about the little bottles they used and how we got our daily milk at school in them back in the 1970s, fighting for any left over bottles, enjoying the cream that had risen to the top and the warm milk underneath...ah, those were the days.
I digress, as usual....Here's David and Vanessa coming down the main staircase in Duff House...
After our refreshments we went home......
Well, we did and then we got a lift to the Springs with Paul and Karen who we've known for yonks. Karen has the most amazing camera with interchangeable lenses and often disappears while looking for that perfect shot. She's a woman after my own heart and came prepared for every eventuality. Her huge bag, just like mine, was packed with sewing kit, paracetamol and all sorts of 'what if' goodies. In fact she completely outshone me by bringing her coat in from the car as well as a pashmina.....I was speechless!
Robin, yet again, was missed off the seating plan. The girl who did the stationary for it must've been an ex-girlfriend because she didn't give him a place setting card either. Thankfully Jillian spotted the faux pas and shoved an extra seat in for him at the top table..phew!
As we queued up to greet the happy couple we heard the piper playing and looked around to see where he was. No sign of him, so where was the music coming from? We came to the conclusion that he was playing in the gents and sure enough, after a few seconds, out he came, pipes in hand....answers on a postcard please!
The cake fitted in with the birdcages that now graced the centre of the tables, placed on huge crystal candalabras. Once we were all seated ( even Robin), David and Vanessa cut the cake with a sword that Niall produced from behind the table.
Favours were handed out by the flower girl, little packages of heart shaped shortbread biscuits and a personalised tea bag with D&V written on it. It momentarily took my by surprise before I realised that D&V stood for David and Vanessa, not something else that those of us in medical circles will recognise instantaneously!
The speeches were well executed. Shaun telling us that as this was his third time doing a Father of the bride speech, that half the guests will have heard it before and the rest could get DVDs and change the name!
David spoke well, thanking everyone for coming and those who contributed.
Niall told us how brave Vanessa was to take on the surname Raeper ( pronounced 'raper'), a burden he and his family have borne for years. There was no potential for a relationship with his ex-flatmate 'Iona' and a brief relationship with a Czech girl called' Ivana' soon fizzled out. His desire for promotion has been dampened by the next post he would have, being 'Major'....very amusing. Vanessa is a teacher and is apparently keeping her maiden name at school.
The meal was delicious, we were pleasantly surprised by having salmon for a main course, even though Robin had put down in the 'special dietary requirements' section of the reply that 'Lynda could eat a horse'...apparently he writes this on every reply! Vanessa had written back that she had asked Jillian and unfortunately the Springs wouldn't be supplying any Tesco meat....ah the joys of being the butt of your husband's jokes.
We sat with Karen and Paul during the evening and watched as Vanessa came down form her room , her dress transformed with a bejeweled neck piece and her hair beautifully redone on the side. They led off the Grand March and we even joined in this time as Jillian was sending us threatening looks!
It was all well managed and soon it was time for their first dance. They had chosen 'Fall at your feet' by Crowded house which was a brilliant choice as that is exactly how they met. Vanessa tripped over and fell at David's feet in 'Club Tropicana' in Aberdeen ...and now look at them. Her friend Claire had come over and asked David if he liked her friend as he had been persistantly asking her to dance throughout the evening and when he said yes, she said, "Why, do you want to marry her?"
When she tripped over, his persistence paid off and she decided to say yes to the dance and well...the rest is history.
They did a few twirls and fancy moves and later in the evening the bride and her entourage did a dance routine to 'the stripper'....no clothing was removed and then the groom, with feather boa, and his posse did their version, just a little leg rubbing and a few sexy moves, nothing to traumatise the kids!
Even I, the horse eater, had to draw the line when pies were brought out with the teas and coffees at 10pm, still trying to burn off the meal from hours before with some energetic dance moves.
We left at 11 after a great day with great company.
Wishing the new Mr and Mrs Raeper a wonderful life together, may they never be held back from enjoying life as they did on their very special day yesterday. Just remember that where there is happiness, there is love and I know that's something they are not short of.
No comments:
Post a Comment