Being Forty...

So.

Lets recap on how being forty is going thus far.

In my mind, being forty was going to be wonderful. I was going to be thin and extremely fabulous. It was going to be my best decade yet.

There were signs, however, in the days beforehand that this might not turn out quite as well as I had fantasised. For example, having a customer in the shop putting my tummy and saying 'are you hiding a baby bump?'. No. Actually not. I am hiding being fat. And not very well, it would seem.

Also, on my last day as a 39 year old, I enjoyed my walk home from work in the sunshine very much. And then when I got home realised that the car was not on the drive. Because I had left it at work. Not the actions of a young, vibrant person with no signs of early Alzheimers, I'd say.

And then there was the actual day itself....spent running between bed and toilet while my poor, wretched forty year old body tried desperately to expel whatever bit of contaminated sushi it was that gave me food poisoning. Not very glamourous. Although I was unexpectedly thin. My lovely birthday dinner cancelled, I spent the weekend reflecting on how I will NEVER EAT SUSHI again.

By Monday I was starting to feel better. Possibly even a little bit glamourous as a result of my newfound thin-ness. Until school phoned me and asked me to pick up Anna as she had stomach pains. I was a bit pissed off really - on Mondays Anna often has an ailment, and I send her off all jolly and she soon forgets about it. I thought the school were being hoodwinked, but when I turned up she was deathly pale and not looking too well at all. By the afternoon, I could see we were in for another kidney episode and took her off to the doctor who said she could be admitted to hospital. We actually managed to get through the night at home but she went in this morning, stayed for the day and had some IV antibiotics and fluids. She perked up late afternoon, and they said we could go home with some different medication. Now, of course, she is running a temperature of 40 degrees and I'm getting everything prepared for readmission. George has spent the last two nights at two different friends houses, as Andrew has been away on business, and frankly....

......being forty has been a bit shit.