Tis The Season

Children often believe what they are told and I must admit I was no exception. But just as this is extremely useful for things like Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, there are some things that tend to stay with you a bit longer and are harder to get over. That’s why, despite the fact that I can now fit into a size of clothing I thought lost to me forever, I am still a ‘fat kid’ in my head. Someone people don’t choose to play with and someone picked last for sporting teams. The last part could also have had something to do with my sporting ability of lack thereof but we’ll just ignore that.

I was actually probably no more “fat” then than I am now but that’s neither here nor there when teasing is both frequent and hurtful. This is probably why I have a hard time accepting compliments graciously and why nights like last night still surprise me. I was out at my work Christmas party for most of the night, buoyed up with good food and free alcohol. The evening had started out at The Sheraton On The Park and then some of us progressed on to Arizonas. I was there till I got a call from my cousin after which I decided to try and meet up with her at The Rocks. So I made my goodbyes, assuring others that I would be perfectly alright walking down George Street by myself, and headed off.

I didn’t even get out of the building before I met a guy who wanted to know if I worked for the RTA. Apparently, with a body like mine, I had ‘fine’ written all over me. I must admit I was amused as my outfit was neither skimpy nor overly revealing but I had somewhere to go. The guy was very disappointed that I was leaving as he was arriving but since he couldn’t change my mind, he just smiled. He wasn’t the last.

Living in Sydney, you tend to ignore the jerks who yell stuff out their car windows so I won’t even mention them but my next encounter was with a guy who also wanted to ask me a question. Some random pulled me up and very politely asked if my boyfriend would mind if he told me I was beautiful. I told him seeing as I didn’t have one, probably not, then thanked him for saying so and moved on. I didn’t get far however before I ran into another guy who wanted to get to know me.

Before I quite realised it, I was shaking this guy’s hand. Hi, I’m Ben and you’re gorgeous – did I hear you say you don’t have a boyfriend?? Ben was actually quite cute but I was late and he was heading in the opposite direction. And I really didn’t go out to pick up. Just goes to show though that the silly season has definitely begun, things happen in threes and sometimes its good when kids grow up.