Red Faced

They say life begins at 40, well something certainly began in mine.

I'd been aware that my face kept sort of 'flushing' from time to time and feeling hot, but I hadn't given it much thought as it passed and it didn't seem to be that big a deal, until I was shopping with my daughter that is. We were routing through the make up aisle, when I felt the familiar hot face begin just as I turned to her to ask her to read some 'tiny' writing on a pencil that I couldn't see (another new addition to my 40's)

I could see by the sudden look of shock in her eyes and the way her jaw had fallen open that all was not well.

"What on earth's going on with your face Mum!"

"What do you mean?"

"Look!"

She turned me to the already unflattering store mirror ... and there it was.

I had thought up until this point that the new occurrence was just heat, how wrong I was. It appeared that when the heat arrived, it came with an intense shade of red  that seemed to confine itself to my forehead, nose, cheeks and chin ... basically my whole face ... except that is,  the area around my eyes. These stayed perfectly (miraculously I would say given the rest of the colour of my face) ... WHITE!

"Oh my GOD!"

Well that was it, now I knew.

Thankfully I found ways to keep my 'affliction' under wraps and with many prolonged rummages in my bag when in public until the heat wore off ... I managed. Until one day in Tescos I bumped into an old male friend who I hadn't seen for a while and began to chat. Everything was going along fine until I felt 'the heat'.

I should have at that very moment said something ... anything!

But no.

I carried on chatting, obviously growing redder and redder, and whiter and whiter eyed until I saw his eyes  widen and scan my face. It crossed my mind at that point to simply turn and run, I hadn't seen him for years, and I'd probably  never see him again!

But no again.

Instead, I lifted my wrist to check the time, rolled my eyes as if  'gosh I'm so late', said goodbye very chirpily, turned and headed for the toilet.

Good move you may think, but as I wasn't wearing a watch, and as he saw me go into the toilet, which I was obviously 'so late' for ... I could have died!

There I sat, locked in one of the cubicles like some sort of Victorian Sideshow Attraction until the heat had subsided.

The facial hot flushing is happening less and less which has been a blessed relief, but lately I've found myself almost extolling its virtues since I've been being frequented by its much much bigger brother

... the full body flush!!