Life

Marie Louise McConville: Inspired by Carmen and Lupita to live life well while we can

Conjoined twins Carmen and Lupita Andrade. Picture: Channel 4
Conjoined twins Carmen and Lupita Andrade. Picture: Channel 4 Conjoined twins Carmen and Lupita Andrade. Picture: Channel 4

I'm a total wreck this week.

Yes, the lockdown has become a task and yes, my hair looks awful but really, first world problems and all that.

I've realised this week what a needless moan I've become.

I received quite the wake up call this week when I tuned in to watch a very moving documentary on Channel 4 called Two Sisters, One Body.

The programme told the story of conjoined twins, Carmen and Lupita Andrade, who, when they were born 18 years ago, were given just three days to live.

The girls are joined at the abdomen down to their pelvis, where their spines meet. They each have two arms, but only a single leg, with Carmen controlling the right leg and Lupita the left.

When they were aged two, a charity brought them from their home in Mexico to the US in the hope that doctors could separate them.

However they were told this was not possible and so have adapted to life sharing one body. On top of this, they are also having to deal with being immigrants in Donald Trump's America.

Every 12 months, the twins and their family must go through the same endless paperwork drama to be allowed to stay legally in the US due to the twins' medical needs, however this is never guaranteed, causing them much anxiety.

That said, the twins have just completed high school and are at college and both dream of a career looking after animals.

They play the piano perfectly and Carmen has even passed their driving test.

Despite the pain of what they have to go through every day, they laugh, they dream, they joke, they smile and they aim high.

They go bowling and to the cinema and out for dinner and see themselves as no different to anyone else, except they know there are certain things in life which they will never have.

Still, they live their lives with so much zest and are now looking towards a bright future, despite their health and immigration concerns.

Sitting watching them the other night, I was fighting back tears however I was not crying for them, rather I was sad that I let so many little things get in the way of living a full life.

Here I am and really, I don't have a real care in the world.

Yes, we all worry about money and our jobs and this lockdown but really, does anything apart from our health and our families matter - really?

Moaning about Primark still being closed and giving off about about hairdressers not being open is ridiculous.

It's time I took a leaf out of Carmen and Lupita's book and enjoy what we have while we can.

And goodness knows, if they can do it, I have absolutely no excuse.

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When is she ever going to learn?

At 42, you would think Katie Price would have learned from her many past mistakes but it seems not, as the mother-of-five is now asking fans to sign up for a new dating app to win a chance to video call her.

Following on from her latest doomed romance, the former glamour model said she is "excited" to see who is out there and she is "ready to date".

Come on Katie, how about you just take some time to just chill and be good to yourself.

Time to quit the attention seeking and act your age.

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So, does anyone know what day it is?

Or month or year for that matter?

I have lost all concept of time and have found myself asking myself quite simple questions like, why did I come into the kitchen or why did I just put a bag of crisps into the washing machine instead of the cupboard?

I know I am not the only one who is totally lost amid these mysterious times we are living in.

Still, we are surely on the up and little and by little, life is returning.

That said, we are not there yet and so lockdown continues and therefore we still have to find new and exciting ways to entertain the kids and ourselves, which is becoming more and more difficult as each week passes but fret not, National Geographic has stepped up to provide us with fun activities to help us fight the boredom - and it's educational too.

Its website has a built in kids club which offers our little ones everything from activity sessions, such as how to make paper straws, to quizzes, competitions and interesting facts.

There's also book recommendations, Guinness world record videos, adventure blogs and much, much more.

Just check out www.natgeokids.com/uk