Ibuprofen For The Soul

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

This is Punky, checking to see if it is light enough to go outside yet. He knows that when dawn breaks, the doors open. 

But no. Punky. Just no. See that? Night-time. 

He always tries though.

Today was kind of a regular work day on the couch. Caro and I tick-tacked away on our respective keyboards and watched house programmes on the telly. But then we had a nice distraction in the form of Loulou. She asked if she could come around as she was feeling "wobbly".

We all feel wobbly sometimes. So we said yes. 

It turns out she is feeling wobbly because she has to go to the doctor for a scan. It turns out that she has fibroids which are a fairly common thing for the middle-aged lady. 

"And I just thought, 'Oh god, is this us now? Is it just all about things going wrong or falling off?'" she asked. 

I understand. Birthdays are one thing, but nothing marks the passage of time like hernias, varicose veins and a single weird hair growing off the end of your nose. 

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "I'm no good at small talk. Here I am and I've launched right into my uterus."

I don't mind. I always enjoy Loulou's chat. She went on to say that she'd seen some meme or other on the internet. It was a series of pictures of teen idols from the 80's, like Judd Nelson, Nick Rhodes, Rob Lowe and similar. 

"Underneath it said, 'If you needed these pictures on your walls, you now need ibuprofen for your back'", said Loulou sadly. 

Memes are cruel. 

But we pointed out some of the benefits of aging to Loulou. Selective hearing for example.

"Oh god YES!" she said. "My uncle can hear the kettle going on from the other side of the house, but not his wife even if she's directly behind him."

And Caro brought up the subject of hysterectomies. Both woman raised their hands to heaven. "Bloody hell YES," said Loulou. "Eff's sake. Take it all. I'm done with it."

I think by the time she left us, she was feeling less wobbly. And it occurred to me that we are quite good at this sort of thing. I think Caro and I are this little oasis of calm for our wobbly friends. We offer a cup of tea and a little ibuprofen for the soul.

S.