Dating!

We met Bev again the other day.    You've probably heard us talk about Bev in various posts as well as through the Newsletter.  She's one of those girls who you just want to have as your friend;  her spontanaity and infectious smile and laughter can keep you going on those occasions when you might feel a little down-at-heart.  She's intelligent and she's a wizz at her job.

Bev's a big girl - she's had a lot of flak over the years about her size from people who don't really know her, and sadly from some of her own family members.  Yet honestly she's no bigger than a size 20.  It's other people's perspectives that are at odds with fact, as many of us are well aware.

The one thing that Bev doesn't have any problem with however, is having a boy friend.   She was going out with one young man for quite a while until he moved overseas and found he couldn't carry on a long-distance relationship.  (His loss!)

Anyway during our discussions over recent months, Bev occasionally let slip the name of Allan.  Most of us thought Allan was a work colleague or something like that.  However, when we caught up with her this week for coffee, she mentioned that Allan's parents had invited her to join them for their family Christmas get-together - not just Christmas Day but the entire week.  Both at their home and then on their boat cruising around the Gippsland Lakes.   Now it turns out that Allan's family is a well known one within the catering business and when they usually socialise or get together it's with other well-known dignatories and people most of us have heard of either through television or newspapers but most probably will never meet - they walk in different circles entirely!

After explaining that she'd already met Allan's parents on a number of occasions and they'd all gotten on extremely nicely, it seems his family have more-or-less decided that Bev is the girl for Allan.    Of course Allan is of the same opinion apparently!

But it goes to show that "big" girls can still find that they're more than "acceptable" in this day and age.  They don't have to be a size zero to attract a man;  they don't have to diet and starve and undergo cosmetic surgery to meet the unrealistic expectations of today's society, to fit in with that society, or as Bev laughingly said, "to meet (his) Mother's approval!"   Allan's mother is a lovely, mature aged lady with a fuller figure and who is known to "age gracefully" and there's never ever been a hint of Botox in her history!

What's the moral of this story?  Be happy with yourself, whatever your age, your figure, your shape or your size is concerned.  You are you, and you have all the traits and characteristics that make up a unique person.  Make the most of it - because you are, after all,  your own best asset!