For the most part,

I’m what you’d call an open book.

 

What you see is what you get with me.  Ish.  However, there are a few skeletons in my closet that I thought may be fun interesting to share with you today.  Come clean, you know, be real and all that.

Some are hilarious, some not so much.

HERE WE GO

(1) I ran away from home at 16.  Yes, I did.  In my defense, it wasn’t planned.  It was my  birthday, and my then boyfriend wanted to take me out to dinner, something which my parents (well, more so my Dad) really didn’t like.  My Dad hated all my boyfriends with a passion, my Mum tolerated them.  Barely.  Anyway, in the hours leading up to when Jackie picked me up, we were yelling and fighting, mostly over the fact that he was 22 to my 16.  Statutory rape isn’t all that commonly thought of in Asia when I was growing up.  That doesn’t make it right, believe you me, I know, it’s merely my way to explain the situation.  As the evening extended to the night, I was enjoying myself so much that I just didn’t want to go home.  The hours passed by, and soon, it was 3am.  By that time, I was much too petrified of the consequences to go home.  And so, I didn’t.  I stayed out all night, by myself, since by that point, I’d realised what a total ass Jackie was, dumping him quite soon after he declared his birthday gift to me was “deflowering” me.  Insert major eye rolling action.  I stayed out all of the next morning too, walking around.  So stupid.  So dangerous.

Around noon, my stomach was growling like crazy, I had no money (save for a few coins), and I was ready to go home.  Being still afraid of how my parents would react, I used one of three remaining coins to called my Aunt Sofia from a phone booth.  Made her swear that I wouldn’t get into trouble, arranged a place to meet, and then waited.  Half an hour later, a car stopped in front of me, and out came my Dad, with my aunt.  Arrgghh.  I was convinced I was in so much deep shit that it’d be a century before I’d see the light of day again.  Instead he hugged me tight, apologising for taking so long because he’d stop to buy my fave lunch (Hainanese Steamed Chicken Rice with innards).  As it turns out, they (my Dad, brother, uncles, relatives, everyone with a car) had spent the night scouring the streets looking for me.  Scared out of their minds that something had happened to me.

Suffice to say I never ever ran away from home again and while I wish I could say that my Dad and I never fought anymore (of course we did, this is real life), the way he (and my Mum) reacted to finding me/my coming home showed me how much they loved me.  And how reckless my actions were.  And so completely unnecessary.  From that day on, I we tried very hard to talk things through.  My parents did their best to let me “grow up“, while I did my best to see things from their perspective even when I thought they were overbearing and paranoid.

It has also made me SO grateful that Eve is nowhere near as rebellious and headstrong as her mother was is.  And I am SO sorry for everything I ever put my parents through.

(I talked more about the Jackie incident here)

(2) Would you believe I still have all my wisdom teeth?  They made their debut together, the four of them did, in early 1999 when I was about five months pregnant with Eve, and damn, did they hurt.  Because I was pregnant, I couldn’t take any painkillers so I popped ice cubes like they were candy, and Listerine was my beverage of choice.  In the remainder of my pregnancy, I must have guzzled close to 10 bottles of mouth wash, my friends.

Thankfully, all that discomfort wasn’t for naught.

Each of the wisdom teeth grew tall and straight so no extraction was necessary.  Added to that, I, apparently, still have some of my milk teeth which isn’t that uncommon, it would seem.  In my entire life, I’ve only ever lost three teeth (as confirmed by my parents) and then, well, and then it all stopped.  My man loves to tease me about being a baby, quite literally.

(3)  Now this one is going to sound very much TMI but I can’t pee while showering.  I simply can’t.  The thought of doing it makes me feel like a child who’s just wet her pants.  I know, I know, that sounds all weird and crazy and plain ole silly but that’s how I feel about the subject.

And that’s all I shall say which, I’m sure, you already think is way too much GRIN

(4)  Next one is something my family and my husband have been trying to change for years and years and years but to no avail.   I apologise in advance to all lovers of greens in advance but I do not eat vegetables.  Period.

I find them positively repulsive.  They make me want to throw up.  The sheer prospect of crunching down into, say, a stalk of celery, and then having that bit of water/juice squirt out terribly off-putting!!!  Shudder.  The only way to make greens palatable (in my eyes) is to flood in them some sort of sauce (not dressing, mind you, I find all forms of salad dressing equally vile) so my interpretation would be a bowl of thick sauce with a touch of veggie.

What about, you ask, bowel movements?  Well, there’s a reason why I eat loads of fruits and no less than 3 litres of water each and every single day.  To help internal plumbing along, so to speak.

I’ve tried, I’ve really tried, I swear.  From cooked-to-a-pulp mushy, baby-food-inspired concoctions to fresh-as-a-spring-day servings whose crunch factor is so prolific, it’s as though my chomping has given birth to an A cappella performance.  None have sat well with me, neither with digestive tract nor taste buds.  So no.  Thank you but no.  I’d rather take a Miralax.

(5)  This last one sounds odd.  Even to me.  I first wore glasses when I was 10.  I kept reading books, laying down on my bed, with a flashlight (yes, yes, clearly I wasn’t the smartest of kids but already a bookworm).  Then when I was 13, something happened (I’m not quite sure what) but it resulted in my not needing to wear glasses anymore.  Life continued until I was 16 and glasses popped back into my life, at least for the next 12 months because when I turned 17, I couldn’t wear them anymore.  They hurt whenever I tried to see through the lenses.  Back to the ophthalmologist I went and he concluded that I had gone back to having 20/20 vision.

Told you it was going to be a strange story.

Vision 20/20 stayed with me all the way until I was 41.  Then, with the onset of SLE in 2013, my eyesight went a seesaw-ing.  These days, I have a visit with Dr Pham (love her) every three months because that’s how frequently my vision changes.  My endocrinologist suspects it’s the combination of SLE + Menopause (which began at 37 for me) that plays such havoc on my hormones and, consequently, causes my eyesight to change so frequently.  It’s rather annoying, truth be told, and expensive but it is what it is.

Now comes a special, no, the special part of today’s post.  It’s a collaboration with my dear dear friend, Annie.  We’ve been through so much together and yet, have never met in person.  Something which I really hope will change one day soon.

I think of Annie as being the yin to my yang.  We share many things in common such as reading (she’s the librarian, I’m the nerdy bookworm), and an unhealthy obsession love for shoes (her treasure trove is overflowing with sneakers and shoes of all design and colours, mine stands with high heels in, yes, an equally riotous profusion of hues and embellishments), to name but two.

And we both have a daughter we absolutely dote on (hi, Gigi!!).

We chat all the time via WhatsApp and Instagram and email, and I very much think of Annie as my friend, one of my best girlfriends, if I am to be perfectly honest.  And it brings me such joy to share our latest collaboration with you today.

You’re right, Annie, it’s been far too long.

Given that we’re both a little goofy and we both love to have fun with our clothes, what better theme than playsuits!!  Until recently a foreign item of clothing to me, I am now convinced that playsuits are one of the easiest garments known to women.  Now this is something Annie has known from way back before because she (of those fabulous endless legs) has been using them from like forever.  You can see her (and those pins) here and here and here.  Clearly, she was onto the allure of playsuits from early days.

And here’s me.  In the one and only playsuit I own.

F O R    N O W

Bright Crimson Red Playsuit with Ruffles & Bows (H&M in Kuching) | Oversized Burgundy Sunnies (Poshmark) | Nude & Crimson Heels (JustFAB) | Lipstick (22 @ Kylie Cosmetics)

Here’s to many more memories together, Annie!!!

And forgive any typos, friends, the right shoulder remains in a sling.  Up until my next post-surgery review visit which happens on the 6th, so everything here was finger-typed.

 

Love, Sheela

p/s my photos are by Sofia Touassa

I link up here.