cheltonian lifestyle
SALI GREEN Lifestyle &Wellbeing
SaliGreen–
www.iwork4uglos.co.uk /Twitter@iwork4uglos
Thismonth's columnwaswritten in sunnyDevon,wheremy 3 school friends and I took some of our kids (the nicest ones) for the half term break.Wewere lucky enough to borrowa beautiful cottage big enough for all of us to stay in, right on the beach.
Whatsapprevivedour relationship
The 4 of usmet on the first day of sixth format Pate'sGrammar School in 1986.We clicked immediately and became inseparable.During lessons we constantlywrote notes to each other andwhen the odd teacher would intercept and read them,we devised away of getting around this by passing around an innocent school exercise bookwe called The BlueBook, shortened to just 'Bloob'. We also had awhole code, so that if it anything very private did fall into the wrong hands, theywouldn't be able towork outwhat it said.Over the 2 years of sixth formwe got through a few‘Bloobs’, and they contained every detail of our lives,woes and loves and lots of silly stuff, sometimes even actual food such as a splodge of brie (pretty oily and smelly!) or a slice of satsuma. Over the years, time and distance
SpoiltGeneration
came between us.Wewent off to various places and led separate lives. Karenmoved toHong Kong,Gaby relocated toDevon, Libbi to London - then Surrey, andme to London and then back toCheltenham.We never lost touch, but speaking,meeting and writing to each became pretty irregular. People often point out the
negatives of socialmedia and technology and yes there aremany, however ‘Whatsapp’ truly revived our relationshipwith our online 'Bloob'. There is not a day that goes by that the four of us don'twritemessages to each other. We are all parentswith responsibilities, but the ability to share problems and emotions but mostly just nonsense and hilarity,we are able to experience the funwe hadwhenwewere 17 and 18 all over again. After being separated fromKaren
for twenty yearswe are once again reunited and quality time together is back on! Thirty-year old relationships are prettywonderful! I hopewe can take a photo like this every fewyears now.
As the parent of a soon to be teenager, I'mreading a fewbooks to help be better equipped to cope! I've read 'GetOut ofMy Life,But First TakeMe andAlex Into Town',which has been quite reassuring to know that some behaviour is not unusual. Now, I havemoved onto the 'Spoilt Generation' and hope that too helps me dealwith some challenges. The battle ofwills is in full flow. We are part of a
'blended' family andworking through the extra teething problems that
brings.My partner prefers less internet for kids andmore activity, and he's totally right, but I'mtoo soft onmy son so it leads to a lot of 'good cop, bad cop' scenarioswhich are not fair on anyone concerned. We are all committed tomake
more effort, to learn to compromise where necessary. It's time forme to absorb lots ofwell-researched advice fromexpert authors (aswell asmyBloobs!) and put it into practise. If you have views on this subject andwould like to discuss online, you'rewelcome to joinmy Facebook group 'iwork4u lifestyle& wellbeing group' and have your say.
www.saligreen.co.uk THECHELTONIAN MARCH/APRIL 2018 47
Jessica Sara Photography
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