Category: All about Mamma bear

As I get older, I obviously notice the parts of me that are no longer as youthful as they once were.

7 children, illness and age have taken their toll on my once agile body and lately I’ve changed my opinions about a little plastic surgery.

Although I’m increadibly squeamish of needles and hospitals, and I’m also infact not really a big fan of surgery, I could see the benefit to having a flaw fixed to restore your self esteem and help you feel better about yourself when you look in the mirror.

I think, especially as women, we are often so critical of every aspect of our physical selves that more often than not we are our own worst enemies and what can happen when a women takes the decision to have plastic surgery is that by taking her shame away she opens herself up to loving herself more.

My flaws

Now unlike most women who welcome plastic surgery and other body transformation options, I doubt I would ever have anything surgically done on my face and I’m on the fence when it comes to botox.

Those lips look amazing but I don’t know that I would like anyone injecting me in my lips or forehead. The thought of the needle and pain makes me suddenly squirmish.

But having said this there are many times when plastic surgery to the face would be important to restoring the confidence and self esteem of a person.

In the event of injury to the face or for someone who may have a concious worry over the shape of a nose or wrinkles and other facial flaws.

In this regard I would think finding a trusted and well reputed plastic surgen would be your best option to ensure that the surgery is a success.

But, I would consider a tummy tuck to remove the excess baby weight that seems to have fused with a midlife spread.

Oh the dream of a once flat stomach without 4 years of yo-yo dieting and constantly trying to fit in exercise along with mom life and work sounds like a dream come true.

And whilst I’m dreaming up my body transformation, let’s talk breasts.

I’m happy with my breast size so I wouldn’t consider an implant but a lift wouldnt harm.

My perky 20 year old breasts would love my more mature 40 year old body ( provided I actually have the tummy tuck that is)

Yes, I think these two procedures are definitely options I would consider right now in my life.

Although my dream body transformation sounds increadibly easy and lighthearted in this post, and I’m not sure I would honestly ever get the courage to have them done.

My opinions on plastic surgery have shifted. I no longer see plastic surgery as a shallow option for women to look good, there are actually many benefits to plastic surgery to those who chose these procedures.

Often it is not an easy choice to make and those who do choose to have plastic surgery still need to spend time in recovery, which can often be painful.

I think for me the biggest benefit I could see in someone using plastic surgery to correct their flaws would be the development of self esteem and confidence.

Some surgery, like rhinoplasty or breast reduction can assist in improving your physical health.

Whilst other surgery, especially to women who are plagued by bad body image, can assist in developing a positive attitude and enhance mental health as they now view themselves as perfect.

So, whilst I bite into my chocolate and dream of thinner thighs and half heartedly Google if my medical aid want to pay for my tummy tuck , I know should I ever decide to actually do this that there is no shame in improving your physical appearance to look and feel good about yourself.

When I was a teenager we moved to a house that was much further away from the local high school.

Walking to and from school each day meant navigating many hills and crossing a bridge that led over a freeway before finally getting to the main road of our little town in Queensburgh, Kwa-Zulu Natal and then continuing with a further 15 minute walk to the local girls high school.

In total the walk would take us about 45 minutes to an hour to get to school.

If we were running late, the distance certainly did not work in our favour.

A short cut

One day I was asked by a friend why we never used the short cut.

I naturally wanted to know where this magical short cut was and he showed me how to take a path past the church, cross the railway line and then watching the cars carefully we crossed a 6 lane freeway.

Thinking of it now, this was most likely the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, but back then it cut up to 30 minutes off our walk to and from school, so I naturally showed my younger sister and step brother the short cut.

I remember one day, my father discovered us using the freeway as a faster way home and told us we were forbidden to do so.

I’m late

Being teenagers we naturally did not listen to him and crossing the freeway every morning and afternoon became our normal way to get to school and home again.

As teenagers we were invincible, nothing was going to happen to us. We knew how to judge the cars speed and just the right place to cross.

During the exams that year, my sister, step brother and I were incredibly late for reasons I do not remember. We each attended a different school but needed to get across the freeway.

We dressed and rushed out. At the freeway we were distracted by the fear of being late. We were in a rush. We just needed to get across. We saw our chance and ran ….

BOOM!

Screeeetch!

Splat!

The sound of a car’s breaks stopped us on the middle island and I turned to see a white car slow down and then accelerate faster.

My step brother was standing dead still, a look of horror across his face.

My sister lay face down about 3 meters away from us.

A blur

The next moments remain a blur. I remember getting to her and shouting to my step brother to go get my dad, watching with fear as he crossed over the freeway again.

My sister was in pain but the car had only brushed her. It had also sped off without stopping to see if anyone was ok.

What followed was my father arriving in a panic and my sister and I climbing into an ambulance headed to Addington hospital , for her to be treated while our family following in the car.

Hit and run

Ours is a lucky story.

My sister was sore, frightened and thankfully only needed a few stitches for the cut on her thigh where the car had made impact.

We, as teens had learnt just how dangerous our actions had been and were frightened enough not to cross the freeway again.

The car however drove off and my father, because of this never claimed a third party claim. Not being on medical aid, we were lucky that our local government hospital was so well equipped to attend to emergencies.

But what do you do in an instance like this, especially if you do not have medical aid and the car has just driven off?

It’s important to always educate yourself on your rights and the best person to advise you would be a car accident attorney.

With the help of a car accident attorney, my father could have pressed to get my sister the compensation she needed for physiotherapy to completely heal her leg after the accident.

Because, even though we were young, silly teens no one has the right to just drive off after hitting someone with a car.