A Make-up Make-over

It is quite astonishing what you are offered when you have cancer. One of the things I was offered was sessions at 'Maggie's' (a national charity) which provides support to people with cancer. One of the things on offer was 'Look Good, Feel Good', where somebody shows you how to put on make-up to disguise the worst effects of the chemotherapy. I was sceptical, but eventually rang up to book. I had not anticipated that the wait would be so long. I had my session today.

The first problem was getting there: I went to work first. Major mistake. Inevitably, I got caught and left far later than I had intended. When I arrived at the hospital, I could not find a parking space. I finally arrived, panting, out of breath, and in pain from the muscle in my back, about twenty minutes late. They could not have been kinder. I was ushered in, given a cup of tea, told not to worry at all. I started to relax.

The session turned out to be fascinating. Make-up has never really been my thing, but watching the transformation of each of us there, I could only marvel. Suddenly, I had eyebrows that looked completely natural again. My colour looked better than it had for years. I looked younger. Yet even peering suspiciously into the mirror provided, I could not say that I looked 'made up'. I gazed around. The same was true for every woman there, even those who were clearly in the throes of chemotherapy. Each and every one of us had a healthier glow, eyes that looked more sparkly, faces that were less splodgy. And it cheered us all up. As we swapped experiences and laughed with grim humour, you could feel the mood lighten, the sense that we all felt we looked less awful. And they gave us a wonderful 'goody bag' of all the make-up we had been using, apparently donated by the companies. I shan't have to buy anything for years. Fantastic.

I left on a high. I arrived home, and Molly Cat was waiting for me in the hall, in her hammock - where she has remained. She played with me a bit; she deigned to be fed; but she has eschewed the identical hammock in the study (alright, different colour, but I doubt it is that) and stayed firmly in the hall. Huh! is all I can say. I append the evidence.

'Night all.