{"id":6621,"date":"2026-09-07T14:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T04:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/?p=6621"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:39:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T04:39:53","slug":"a-size-in-the-wrong-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/2026\/09\/a-size-in-the-wrong-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"A Size in the Wrong Direction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are plenty of difficult moments in helping to care for my sister, but there are funny ones too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lately I\u2019ve been encouraging Jo to start wearing her compression stockings again. She hadn\u2019t worn them for a few weeks after getting some grazing on one of her calves and wanted to give her legs a break. Unfortunately, her legs have been getting puffier, so Mum and I have been gently encouraging her to think about wearing them again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jo mentioned that perhaps she needed a larger size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her previous stockings were 2XL, so when I discovered that Everstride had brought out some rather nice pastel-coloured bamboo compression stockings, I sent her the link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMaybe try the 3XL this time,\u201d I suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This morning I received a text from Jo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She had ordered them herself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was genuinely pleased. Jo had taken the initiative, followed the link and organised something for herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then I noticed the size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">XL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I stared at the message for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2XL stockings are too tight, so naturally the solution is&#8230; XL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I decided not to say anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I simply went online and ordered a few pairs in 3XL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes caring for someone means advocating, organising, encouraging, worrying and knowing when to step in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And sometimes it just means quietly ordering the 3XL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Caring for someone often comes with a mix of worry, frustration and affection. Sometimes the only way to carry the smaller mishaps is to find a little humour in them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6621"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6624,"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621\/revisions\/6624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hamjak.com\/ma2005\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}