We’re here in Portugal for a chess tournament, of course. It began yesterday evening at 8.30 pm, which seems a little late to me but that’s how it goes. After introductory speeches, it began with a musical it began with a musical interlude by two young musicians from the Filharmonica de Silves. Very nice!
We met a few old friends. The organisers gave goody-bags to all participants, with quite useful contents : a rather fine water bottle, a pen and pencil, a folding shopping bag and a bar of local soap - orange scented as it seems Silves is the “orange capital of Portugal”. They must have good sponsors.
A late start meant a late finish. The hotel bar closed at midnight and so we ended up with a beer in our room to celebrate Phil’s win.
The sun is shining again this morning. Mind you, it shone yesterday morning but rained quite heavily later.
Scanning the papers on line, I found this graphic article about how difficult it is to be a first-time mother. Did she really feel so bad about it or was she just exaggerating it in order to create a more interesting set of images? Every time I read about how hard it for young mothers I wonder why they wanted babies in the first place. Is it from a sense of ‘thisnis what I must do next? And did they not do some research into how tiring it might well turn to be? And then I think I must have been very lucky to have cooperative babies. Yes, babies are disruptive, especially if you expect life to continue just as it did before! But for most women, at least in the west it’s a lifestyle choice. Relax and enjoy your baby! I’m almost tempted to write to the newspaper!
On the subject of babies, I read about someone who, having had two children of her own, decided to offer her womb to a transplant scheme in order to allow another woman to experience childbirth. I’d never heard of this before. Normally, it seems, this is done anonymously but this donor managed to get in touch with her donee. “Our messages turned into texts and calls, and then she invited me to visit her in May 2021 to see her maternity photoshoot. Turning the corner, I saw her holding her pregnant belly. We ran into each other’s arms.” They became firm friends.
How nice! But what on earth is a “maternity photoshoot”? Answer, according to google:
“A maternity shoot is a photo shoot or series of photo shoots done throughout pregnancy or the maternity period for a soon-to-be mother. Maternity sessions capture the beauty of your growing baby bump and glorify the unity of mom and baby.
A photographer will suggest booking a shoot around the beginning of your third trimester or towards the end of your second. There is no cut-in-stone time to plan the shoot. They recommend a time that your belly is really round.”
That’s a bit different from the quick snapshot taken when I was very pregnant with our daughter and simply wanted a record of how elephantine my usually smallish body could become. No glorifying my “really round belly” for me but nowadays you show it off with pride! And put it all over social media! Apparently, “Being pregnant is such a gift. The gift of pregnancy is to be celebrated, catered to, taken extra special care of and most of all captured in a maternity photo shoot.”
Such is the modern age.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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