Thursday 16 July 2015

Five Things About Me . . .



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This is a photograph which was taken of me when I was about nine months old.   That seems ever so long ago now.   Well, I guess it was since I am going to be sixty next month, which seems really hard to believe.  When you are young your life seems to be dragging by . . .  but when you get old it seems to have just flashed by.  If you look closely at the photograph you will see that there is a small bump on the left hand side of my forehead.  I was born with it.   A cyst/tumour.  It got larger as I got older and I had it removed in the hospital when I was nine years old.  It had started causing me to have headaches, etc.  The operation left me with a nice scar on my forehead.  (Nowadays they would have tried to minimise that.    Back then it wasn't such a concern.)   I was awake for the whole operation.   I was doped up so that I  couldn't move and they put a white cloth over my eyes so I couldn't see what was happening.   All I remember is the sound of them cutting the skin, etc.  and the cloth turning red.  It was pretty scary to my nine year old self.  This was not my first time in hospital, nor would it be my last.

Yep, it's another five things about me post!


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I was back in the hospital a year later to have my tonsils out.   My sister and I both had them out at the same time, so at least I had company in the hospital this time around.  I remember them putting a mask over my face and telling me to breath in and count back from ten . . .  and the smell of ether.  I threw up as soon as I woke up afterwards.  It wasn't very nice.   I recovered very nicely however.  My sister was not so lucky.  A few days after we got home from the hospital my mother woke up one night to find me dragging my sister to the bathroom on a blanket.  She couldn't walk.  That is when they discovered that she had rheumatic fever.   She was in hospital for a few weeks and then her recovery took a long time also.   I can remember her sitting in our garden on a lawn chair under a blanket so that she could get some fresh air.  Her tonsils actually grew back and she had to have them removed again when she was about 17.  Not nice.

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I gave birth five times, naturally and drug free.   Nobody ever offered me any drugs.   I would have taken them if they had!  I was nineteen when I had my first child and labour was a real eye opener.   I had asked about labour pains and the Doctor had told me they were like strong menstrual cramps.   My mother never experienced labour pains as far as she could remember.  Nobody had told me how much it really hurt.   I thought I was going to die.  I wanted to die.   It was a pain unlike anything else I had ever experienced.  Father's weren't allowed in the room with you.   My ex ex took me to the hospital and then went home.   A friend of mine who was about six months pregnant herself, came in and spent some time with me, but she had to leave because I was scaring her.  haha  There were no prenatal classes, Lamaze classes, etc.   I was totally in the dark about what was happening, and terrified.  Things had improved somewhat when I had my second child.  By then I was married again.  Men were allowed to stay with you then and my ex stayed with me.   But he told me if I made any noise at all he was leaving.  And so I didn't.  Make any noise. At all.  But I wrung my hands a lot.  They were all bruised after, and quite sore, but I didn't care.    I loved my babies.  Still do.  ☺


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If I was 40 years younger, I would totally have pink hair.  I love, Love, LOVE Pink hair.  It probably wouldn't look very good on me though.  Not now of course, but I am not sure it would have looked good on me at  19 either.  But I would like to try it, not now but back then.    I wish I had been more confident when I was that age.   Having more confidence would have prevented me from making a lot of mistakes.  No do-overs in life.   Only do-betters.


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I used to fantasise about being a hippy and living in a commune when I was a teenager.  No rules or restrictions.  Just love.  Acceptance.  Flower Power.  And all that.   I was 14 when the Woodstock music festival happened and would have loved to have been there.  It seemed like the penultimate of hippiness. Of course it was the romanticised idealised version of hippy-dom.  I probably wouldn't have liked the reality at all, but a part of me still likes to think I might have  . . . I'm actually probably pretty lucky that there weren't such things where I lived, or cults, etc.   I might have been prime pickings for them . . .  or maybe not.  I was such a rule follower and pretty afraid of disappointing my parents.    Thank goodness!!

And that is my five things for this week.  Hope I didn't bore you!

A thought to carry with you through today  . . .


❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥
History has remembered the Kings and warriors 
because they destroyed;
art has remembered the people because they created.
~William Morris
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There is a simple and delicious appetizer cooking in The English Kitchen today . . .  Mabel's Ham Pate.   No cooking involved.

Have a fabulous Thursday!!  We are off to Manchester later today as they are having a Senior Couple's Missionary Dinner to say goodbye to some couples who are leaving and hello to some couples who are arriving.  Our first Senior Couple's Missionary Dinner.

Don't forget . . .

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═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════
And  I do too!


12 comments:

  1. You are certainly a wonderful woman Marie, when you look back and see all that you have accomplished, especially when you have felt so unsecured really...I admire you so much xx. More driving for poor Tod today, take care you are certainly having a lot more to do at church now....as it is Thursday I have the coffee morning to help with up at church so no doubt morning will go quickly. Enjoy your lunch, God Bless xx

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  2. I am surprised by how often you describe yourself as old. You're four years older than me and I don't feel old...middleaged I guess but not old! You have a good chance of another twenty years of life but you seem to have mentally put yourself in the old lady category. Your writing is generally far more youthful than that! My sister in law is almost your ages and she got pink streaks this year! They look great. Go for it! Remember that you are younger now than you will ever be again!
    Love you lots xxx

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  3. Our lives have certainly busied up Sybil! In a very good way. I like it! I hope you enjoy your coffee morning! Love and hugs to you, Mary and Masy! xoxo

    I know Julie. I guess 60 isn't really that old. I just feel old some days. I have been filling out papers to apply for my Canada Pension and it makes me feel older I guess! Not easy to do it from over here and my missing brain cells are making it more difficult! Love and hugs! xoxo

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  4. Good morning Marie. You are not old at all. I am sure some days the aches and pains seem to make you feel older. Australia keeps raising the pension age. I have to be 67.

    Enjoy your dinner. I am sure it will be a wonderful experience and one you will enjoy.

    God bless and safe travelling.

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  5. You still have the same face:)

    Get a PINK STREAK..go for it! even try temporary if you wish.
    An agent I worked with a few times had a pink streak always.. suited her perfectly.She was way ahead of her time!
    I remember my first daughter at 21..

    if you think for one moment I would allow 10 interns to come and check me out..with the confidence and knwoledge I have now..you are wrong..geesh..as if that isn' t enough of an awakening..with your own doctor.

    So..Jacques was on a business trip when the prenatal class showed us a delivery movie..in a delivery room of the hospital.I had never seen a delivery..had no parents etc..
    saw the movie..came home alone and bawled my eyes out SCARED to death.
    It went very well.;) Epidurally well.

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  6. Marie...I got my first cheque last year..

    It won't make you feel older..
    I find illness or seeing someone you love that is older with ilness makes you feel old.
    Health is the top ticket for feeling youthful.
    Everyone is different.
    Just be you.
    With a pink streak.;)

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  7. In Canada, you can apply for your Canada Pension at age 60. It's somewhat reduced, but I won't be entitled to any other pension. I was a stay at home mom for most of my life (although I did plenty of work out of my home, child minding, etc. that wasn't recorded.) So I don't have very many paid contributions I am not sure how much I will get. I wish I had been smarter when I was younger. I would have invested myself in other things. xoxo

    I wish I'd even been offered an epidural Monique! Must have been bliss! xoxo

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  8. PS - I might go for a pink streak. We'll see.;-)

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  9. I almost had to have my tonsils out when I was little--one more strep throat and they were gone. However, they ARE gone. At some point, it appears, they shriveled up and disappeared. Either that or they were removed in an alien abduction one night. I had my appendix out at 17. My roommate at the hospital was having her tonsils out at 17. She suffered horribly afterward, while the little kids who had theirs out the same day were running up and down the halls playing. Poor girl.

    For my first child (37 now)I was knocked out for a C-section. No husband allowed in. 13 years later for my next child (also C-section), I was awake and my husband (new one) was right in there with me. Same three more years later.

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  10. Haha Monique, as if I wouldn't tell all of you if I did something like that! xoxo

    Wow, that is fascinating Laura! I wonder where they went. I know that it was a lot more painful for my sister the second time around also. xoxo

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  11. After reading this one; I find you amazing. I loved learning these 5 unique things.
    I loved your cute pictures. I had my tonsils out at age 9 and I remember them putting me out with the Ether. I had a dream where were squiggly lines in red and yellow with a hospital table and a Dr. and nurse then repeated everything they did, such as needle, needle, tonsils, tonsils. I think that I wasn't clearly out. I was afraid after that to ever have an anesthesia.
    You are amazing having all of your children without anything. I had two with somethings and my last 4 were Lamaze births. I can't imagine having a baby without my husband present. Our 2nd one was born and he had to be outside the door until I delivered because they were giving me gas; which I didn't want but was forced upon.
    I loved that you thought about being a hippie. There is a group that still follows this life style. A couple of years ago they had a big get together up close to where my oldest son lives. Interesting things for the city to contend with.
    I am sure you had a great time at your Senior party. I think that sounds so fun.
    Love and hugs!

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