It has been a week of reflection.  I am sure it is fairly common to have a traumatic experience, of any kind, and suddenly find yourself reflecting upon the things in your life that are good, the things in your life that need to be altered immediately, and the things in your life that you realise you simply cannot live without.

After my time of distress last week, I have realized that one of the things I simply cannot live without is cold, crisp, good Sauvignon Blanc.

But I digress.

Life events that can be described as “emotionally disturbing” are known to make individuals re-evaluate what is important to them in their lives.  Suddenly last week, I became utterly focused on my immediate family, on my job that I love so much, and on my special friends, worldwide.   All of this is the positive side of the situation.  The not so positive side of it is the insatiable appetite I developed for all things decadent – chocolate, cheese and chips – not necessarily in that order.

And so it was that I rolled off to a function yesterday, feeling like Oompa Loompa, and not wanting anyone to set eyes on me in case they fainted on the spot at the sight of this slow moving amoeba-like brunette.  Sitting with friends chatting about men, relationships (or rather the lack of them) and all things love and lust, a great confidante of mine picked up a book and read a line out to me that struck gold in my by now bulging double chin – it read, “your flaws are perfect to the heart that is meant to love you.”

The bell had just rung for me.

There are two aspects to this statement.  Firstly, the flaws part.  In other words, if you have, as I do, “more ‘Chins’ than the Chinese telephone directory” as my uncles used to say,  they may not be seen as a flaw by someone who is deeply, madly and truly in love with you.  But the aspect of the sentence that fascinated me more was “the heart that is meant to love you”.  This has long since been an item of fascination for me.  At what point does good luck end and fate begin?  How do you know which heart it is that is meant to love you?  Is there only one heart in your life that is destined to love you, or, if you have bad luck with a few hearts, is there still that other heart out there that was actually meant to love you, but was just waiting for the right time, circumstances, and events?

I have spent many years of my life thinking about love, running away from the possibility of love, at other times searching for love, sometimes giving up on love, and lately, just being plain skeptical about love.  So when this was read to me, it suddenly awakened in me a question we all prefer not to ask – that of “what if?”

What if there is actually that heart out there that is meant to love us, triple chins and all?  They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so perhaps the same could be said for all of us with a few extra pounds of comfort around our nether regions, and those of us too who gave up on love in the late 90’s, around the time we were listening to tunes by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting?

Personally, I have more questions than I do answers.  But I do know that if there is a heart out there that is meant to love me, I am afraid it had better accept my current Botticelli body, flaws and all!