Beauty, Work, and Weeds

  Gardening, like beauty, requires work.  But even as I begin this blog, I have to point out 2 things:  yes, beauty in nature and beauty in females are found naturally all around us (you don't have to look very far to find either) and I will most likely set forth on a series of blogs on the distorted definition of what society and the media consider to be beautiful.  It's not only one of my biggest pet peeves, but also something I have studied to quite an extent, only adding to my agitation on the topic. 
    You can look around you and find a beautiful natural garden in most places that hasn't been paved over by sidewalks, buildings, concrete, and asphalt, but sometimes you come across a half cleared patch of land that seems to have a lot of potential with a little bit of work and a trip to a green house to buy some plants, bushes, shrubbery, and possibly a few trees.  Then you might add a bit of mulch, possibly a border, and you have not only a beautiful garden, but something to show for your hard work.  Even after you finish planting, the work isn't finished.  You have to trim, preen, and weed the garden to maintain the beautiful look.  Weeds have a funny way of popping up and choking what you grew.  Not to mention most weeds aren't exactly pretty looking.  (Although, some are pretty looking, but the result is the same.  They eventually take over your beautiful garden, using up the nutrients your plants need to thrive, block out the sunlight, choke your plants, and sometimes eventually either kill them, or the plants never quite grow as robust as they used to).
     The same is true for women.  Some prefer to spend a lot of time making themselves feel beautiful (all women are beautiful in my opinion), while others don't.  We find the right body wash or soap, the right shampoo and conditioner, the right lotions to make our skin feel great (and smell great), some use a lot of makeup, while some don't use any.  We buy clothes, shoes, purses to make ourselves look and feel beautiful, do our hair (cut, style, or just throw it back in an elastic), some even colour their hair.  Some love to tan themselves, get their nails done, pedicures, waxing, the list is endless.  All in an effort to make ourselves feel beautiful (and/or appear beautiful to others). 
      Along this line of thought includes what we do to our bodies.  I'll skip the whole extreme dieting and workout regimes, but many of us try to be as healthy as we can, even when we're chronically ill.  This includes invisibly ill.  A dear friend of mine has mentioned the name "Bob" several times.  She's married, has children (none of whom are named Bob), but rather Bob is what she calls her illnesses.  It's much easier to just say Bob when talking about them in front of loved ones and close friends than spouting cold, complicated medical terms. When she's trying to explain others what her illnesses are and how they affect her, she uses their real names.  This is far from a new concept.  I don't know why, but "Bob" seems to be a common term people use to ignore or refer to the pink elephant in the room.  It seems to make it easier somehow to name the pink elephant something so harmless.  Keep in mind, she's a very unique individual, but at the same time, Bob, in all its commonness, somehow suits her. 
     Myself?  I have been diagnosed with Fifths Disease, Fibromyalgia, COPD, Asthma, Chronic Lyme Disease, Epstein Barr Virus, and "something else."  That "something else" has me going back and forth between doctors as they try to figure it out.  And I'm tired of saying "whatever the hell this is," or "that something else."  So for the past few days, I've been trying to come up with a name for it.  I didn't want to pick some technical sounding name, because with my luck, it'll actually be some oddball rare disease that actually exists.  I also didn't want to name it something cute like "fluffy" or "the thing" because it just makes it sound like I'm full of crap and being over dramatic.  "Bob" would make me sound too much like a copy cat and to pick an adjective or adverb would just be too corny.  Then for whatever reason, "badyl" came to mind.  It's the Polish word for weed.  Not the kind you smoke to get high, or kill pain, or combat nausea, but the kind that invades your beautiful gardens and sucks the life out of your plants.  It's pronounced similar to the word "bottle."  But it fits perfectly and sounds soooo much better than "whatever the hell this is."  So, "badyl" it is.  And I have not only Chris to thank me, but my blogs to thank as well.