The Good Life’s WENDY GOOD looks back on eight years of fun in her final column in tonight’s WOW!

THIS is my 477th Good Life column. It’s also my last.
It’s been  a massive honour and privilege to be asked to pen a weekly column; especially when the subject matter pertains largely to yourself and not the topical issues of the day that you can use as idea fodder.
But it’s time to sign off.
I always get a kick out of the fact that so many people think I do nothing else, sitting in my Carrie Bradshaw ivory tower and getting paid massive sums to write once a week. The reality is that’s done outside of work, sometimes last minute, in a  panic, and the most-oft heard whinge out of me for eight years now has been: “What’ll I write my column on?”
If you are one of the readers that has followed this column since 2004; bless you, for you started out reading what was supposed to be a quirky look of the life of single city girl and ended up being hauled through several house buys, an engagement, wedding, step-parenthood, the only pregnancy to ever take place ever, maternity leave and princess Zoe’s early years.
I haven’t missed a column through that life- changing lot, although I did take two weeks off one summer and have kicked myself ever since that I can’t claim a 100% record.
There have been many hilarious moments along the way. I’ve lost count of the times I get told I look nothing like my byline; so I changed it a lot and waited for the inevitable flurry of emails
objecting or approving. It got to the stage where one lady told me she didn’t buy the paper to read the column; merely, to see what my hair was like.
Checkout operators would look at the name on my Laser card, cast me a sly sideways glance, then ask “How’s Himself?” and roar laughing. You will, without exception, only be recognised on off days, without make-up, in the middle of a toddler tantrum or, memorably,  when half-naked in a communal changing room. Don’t ask.
That was a tad easier to handle than the
student midwives who insisted on reading the column I had written to the unborn baby aloud to each other as I leaned over the bed in the labour ward roaring in pain, awaiting the arrival of my own little Woman on a Wednesday.
The baby columns rank among people’s favourites — you were all very quick to tell me what you like and when I had taken my eye off the ball. The baby boom meant many of you were pregnant at the same time and I loved getting the emails and being stopped in the street to do baby talk. My daughter also boasts the largest collection of baby girl arrival cards from complete strangers, in Cork. She received toys, clothes and gifts from readers and I was very touched and very hormonal about them all, so thank you.
A straw poll shows that the letter baby ‘Neenoo’ wrote to my mum — the first-time grandmother in Canada — to warn of her impending arrival, ranks as the most memorable and I’m happy to report that young Zoe delights in reminding her ‘Annie’ that Mummy told her she was in my belly in the newspaper.
Trying to get a last-minute passport, smuggling iced tea home from Portugal, shopping for
wedding dresses, the big weight loss challenge and charting Zoe’s rise to full-on diva status (yes, I know she won’t thank me) have all featured on the most memorable list. One column where I ranted about how car salesmen treated me like a little girl was pinned up behind many a garage counter — or so I’m told! The biggest compliment was when people would say that they liked it  because I made real life sound so funny. The ‘we’ve all been there’ syndrome.
Thank you — family, friends and readers — all so much for contributing, reading and having an opinion. It means a lot.

Read the full column in tonight’s WOW! – free with the Evening Echo