Last weekend something happened that hasn’t happened before … I bought a copy (in fact 6 copies) of the Mail on Sunday. The bloke in the petrol station where I’d been filling up was confused, “nobody’s ever bought six before”, he scratched his head and looked confused while I ripped open the plastic bag around You magazine and flipped to the page where I was expecting to see a photo of Hope and I in the middle of an article about ‘Older mothers’. The picture was there alright, but tiny beside a gigantic centrespread picture of Hope … bless her, looking as if she was about to crawl right out towards me. Obviously I burst into tears, and the poor cashier looked horrified and looked from the picture to the unmade up tearful fool in front of him and said, “is she yours?” … “yes”, I said, “yes she is” … I grabbed my papers and my petrol receipt and ran.
She is … she is mine … well she’s not really, she’s her own person, very much so in fact (and that is exactly the way it should be) … and I still can’t believe it sometimes. After all the ups and downs, the years of thinking I’d never have a child, the previous years of thinking maybe one day I would, and the years before that of not even thinking about it … but yes, here she is … I do have a small person and I’ve never been happier, or had more zest for life.
The other unexpected part of the piece was that it was built around an interview I did a few months back with Samantha Brick … she of the ‘beautiful’ fame … I’d never heard of her when she phoned me, she was delightful, funny, chatty and had great empathy for my situation. She was patient and articulate and when in the end I pulled out of the piece she was totally understanding … this latest piece spun out from those original interviews. Many people told me not to trust her, not to have anything to do with someone so “narcissistic” infact … I did, I went with my own personal instinct and based on our many conversations I trusted her, it was the right thing to do, as far as I am concerned she is a funny, endearing and warm person and yes beautiful and I say that only having ‘met’ her over the phone… and that kind of beauty is far more important to me. Sometimes again when you least expect it something positive shines through.
This last week I was phoned by Diana Appleyard, she writes for The Sun (and has written across the British media for years). Neither The Sun or The Mail are papers I buy normally, but again this week I parted with some hard earned cash for a copy or two of this other red top… Diana’s research case studies are lined up next to some editorial I don’t subscribe to about fertility stats being wrong … I believe it is hugely important to raise awareness in younger women of issues of decline in fertility … but that aside the little cameo case study came out ok.
Angel is a You magazine centrefold …
