Health

Health is a very subjective term. Someone may post on Facebook that they spent the weekend lazily meandering between the kitchen, the couch, and the front door (to pay the sushi delivery guy) only to receive drastically different feedback ranging from "sounds lovely!" to "so the plan is to hit the gym hard Monday morning right?" While another may cheer loudly that their toddler awoke only 3 times during the night allowing them nearly 7 (albeit somewhat broken up) hours of sleep only to be tisk tisk'd by others insisting that the tot should surely be sleeping through the night by now, insinuating on many levels a lack of "health" in the household. Or perhaps a working woman (married or single, mother or not, don't know - don't care) posts at Midnight that her inbox has finally been widdled down to ZERO UNREAD MESSAGES and smiles to herself that a restful nights sleep can finally be had only to endure endless reminders from others about the dangers of being a workaholic. In each case one woman on one side of the fence boasting satisfaction with their real life version of health, and seemingly countless others on the other side ready and waiting to beat down any version of health not fully supported by their own perception of how it clearly should be.

Not that I've been on either side of that fence lately. Clearly not.

Lately the final words spoken to me after any social gathering have more often than not been, "now you take care of that baby in there, you here?" And more often than not I've had to restrain myself from replying with, "But I was REALLY looking forward to doing those belly shots after my combo skydiving-to-backcountry-mogul-skiing class!" Now, I know those words have been spoken with only the utmost love and sincere regard for my ability to keep myself and the unborn child inside of me "healthy" and would never in a million years think wicked witch of the west style thoughts about the deliverer. But, I'd be fibbing if I said I wasn't slightly entertained (perplexed/disturbed) each time I heard the words. And upon reflection of those very moments they still bring about a slight giggle. I mean seriously, thanks for the reminder to keep myself "healthy", I had almost forgotten...

Well, I suppose there was that one moment back when we were preparing our home study and I neglected to deep clean the toilet bowls in preparation for our social worker's visit (GASP!!!), and then that other time when we sent Ash to school in 3 pairs of socks because we couldn't find his shoes (GASP!!! GASP!!!), and then there was that recent event when at 4 months pregnant I toasted to the celebration of my sister's engagement with REAL champagne (GASP!!! GASP!!! GASP!!!). So perhaps the occasional reminder is necessary after all. And by occasional reminder I mean an every so often tap on the shoulder followed by the smile and nod from a friend that says, without speaking one single word:

"I love you. You rock. Keep it up. And if you need a hand, hire a babysitter then give me a call and I'll pick you up in 5 mins, destination your choice."

Now THATS health.

And this, this is health too: