This Body

This body
This fat body
Grew you

Birthed you

Fed you

These arms

These fat arms

All bingo wings and stretch marks

Carried you everywhere

Cuddled you as you napped

Stayed awake long nights holding you,

Comforting cries of hunger or pain

Make cakes for you

Still hug you close each day

The legs

These fat legs

Thunder thighs and chub rub

Walked your buggy til you slept

Bounced you on their knees

Paddled with you in the sea

Ran up and down stairs in answer to your call

This bottom 

This fat bottom 

Sat beside your car seat on every journey

Sits in the audience of all your shows

Will sit with you whenever you need me

This stomach

This fat stomach

Stretched and grew to accommodate you

What more does it need to offer 

After that?

This face

This fat, round face

Double chin, hint of a wrinkle,

Smiles

Laughs

Sings for you

Answers questions

Watches you grow and learn and live

Will be the face you remember

When you miss home

Or grow old, long after I am gone 

This fat body 

Has served and loved and taught you

Sacrificed

Adapted

Offered itself up

For you

Yet,

Someone,

Somewhere,

Somehow, 

Taught you to be ashamed of me

Told you

Fat is offensive

Fat is embarrassing 

Fat is displeasing 

How did they get to you?

When I have hidden those negative thoughts from you. 

When I have neutralised fat.

Used it as descriptor

Stated it as fact

Never shied away from the truth of my size

Fat 

And

Beautiful. 

Lived each day 

Speaking only good things about my body

Talking up 

Strong legs

And kind arms

Praising the tummy that was your home

Even when everything I see and hear

Seems to say

I am disgusting

Everything people do not want to be

Lazy, greedy, ugly, bad

Who ruined your precious heart? 

Made you look at me and see something to avoid?

Gave you the fear of speaking the word?

Started you doubting

Your own beauty?

I am fat!

Yes. 

Like Ursula

That fabulous sea witch. 

I am fat. 

Let your sister speak it.

She is not afraid of it. 

Yet. 

But

Deep inside -

And there is a lot of me

So it could be very deep -

I know that

Fear that

Somehow,

Somewhere,

Someone 

Will get to her too. 

And she will turn

And look at me

And feel the same shame

I have felt all my life. 

She will secretly hope to never be like me. 

Dear one

Don’t be that someone. 

Look at me

Look at this

This body

This beautiful 

Strong

Generous

Good

Hardworking

Protective

Nurturing

Soft

Loving

Damned beautiful 

Body

And love me for who I am

For all that I am

And all that I do

All that I have done and will do 

For you

To love yourself 

Will be

My enduring gift to you. 

©️Laura Moore 2020

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Review of A Little Something For You

Review of A Little Something For You:

We were super excited to have a big parcel delivered yesterday. What was inside was even more exciting! A gift from their Aunty and Uncle to fill lockdown with some fun, purchased from a great business that started out selling brilliant party bags. With parties being a big no-no these days, A Little Something for You has come up with the brilliant idea to sell Keep Em Busy Boxes. (https://alittlesomethingforyou.co.uk/shop)

The Surprise Boxes come in four sizes and are made up individually, based on the age and interests of the child you’re buying for.

We were so impressed with the obvious care and thought put into each of the kids’ back packs. There were games, toys, activities, crafts, and even the dreaded slime!

The kids were utterly delighted by everything they discovered in their bags. (You can see their “unboxing” video over on my Facebook page.) And I was particularly pleased and surprised when I went into the lounge later to see why everyone was so quiet, only to discover that the TV was playing to an empty room and they’d all gone outside to have an adventure with theirr new backpacks!

If you’re looking for a gift for a child you love, then I would definitely recommend sending one of these Keep Em Busy Boxes. Great value for money, thoughtful, and entertaining.

Check out My Thoughts on Things on Facebook.

Holy Saturday

At home

Anxious

Worrying

Frightened

On a sunny day - 

Holy Saturday,

When I wouldn’t normally go anywhere

But today can’t anyway -

My thoughts travel back

To that first Holy Saturday

Sabbath day

Limbo day

‘Twixt death and resurrection. 

Women

Broken hearted

Grieving

Lost and afraid

Longing to leave their homes,

Sunny or not,

When they wouldn’t normally go anywhere.

Sabbath rest enforced.

Longing to put their friend to rest

Eternal rest

Accompanied by perfumes

Scents

Spices to disguise the smell of death

And hark back to his birth

And hint at his royalty. 

I see their grief 

And know

That with the morning will come joy. 

Mourning turned to dancing

In the light of love brought back

To life. 

But how dark their future seemed. 

How empty. 

How lonely. 

I sit at home

Busy at home

Safe at home. 

They hid. 

Rested with their grief

Followed the rules 

And planned their dawn visit. 

I long for a seemingly distant tomorrow 

When we can return to the ordinary

Step, blinking, into the streets

And laugh 

And hug

And dance

Together again. 

They longed for a vanished yesterday

When they basked in his extraordinary 

Walked beside the man

Who laughed

Embraced

Rejoiced

And wept with them. 

This isolation will end

As theirs would. 

We hope in reasonable confidence 

That this cannot 

Go 

On 

Forever

And so we cope and carry on. 

But they somehow found strength

Carried on

When all hope had been destroyed. 

And I am in awe of them for that. 

©️Laura Moore, April 2020

Home Education During A Pandemic

What strange times we find ourselves living in now. Two weeks ago I was very much in the minority, and now I find myself just one of many parents educating their children at home.

Schools are closed to all but the children of key workers and those whose home lives are unsafe. And so thousands of parents are tasked with ensuring their children are occupied and learning at home.

We seasoned home educators are isolated now too. We’re not used to being forced to stay home. Many spend their days out and about, taking classes, visiting museums, meeting with friends and family. We’ve lost those experiences too, so please know that home education isn’t really what you’re experiencing now.

We’ve also never had so many awesome resources to draw from. The upside for us of so many being forced into home education is the number of companies offering free or reduced subscriptions; clubs and groups running classes online; and museums and zoos opening their virtual doors to us all. It has reignited my love for home education! But, again, know that this isn’t normal for home education. We usually have to buy our own resources, source classes that suit our children and their varied ages, and pay for educational trips out. There is no government support for the elective home educator.

But none of this means that you can’t get a taste of the freedom and joy of home education.