I have recently had a birthday and Lee has a big one coming up next month. Age doesn’t bother me too much, turning 30 was no major milestone that I tried to hide from. I remember my 18th birthday party like it was yesterday – that is when I really knew how to party! Therefore the next ‘milestone birthday’ probably won’t faze me either.
Yesterday I had a rare lunch date with my mum and she referred to having a daughter of nearly forty and that it amazes some of her colleagues. My first thought was – does she have a secret daughter that she is suddenly mentioning, before the dawning realisation that I am the almost forty year old! I don’t think in numbers – maths has never been my strong point. But forty sounds a little old to me. As a teen forty seemed a gazillion miles away but nothing has changed really. It still sounds a gazillion miles away.
I have been with Lee since before I was twenty – I met his parents on his 21st birthday for the first time. Looking back we were so young but it didn’t feel young. University strangely does feel like a very long time ago- probably because we have never been back to the North East since we drove away from Middlesborough with our 2:1 Hons certifications rolled up and ready to be filed away. I would like to pop back but it is such a long drive.
More numbers.
I guess the number that does get to me is that I have a 14 year old daughter. She is about to start GCSE courses, we have been choosing options and making plans. She has firm ideas – her own ideas of what she wants to do and how she would like life to pan out. It doesn’t seem like five minutes ago I was bringing her, my millennium baby home. The car journey in which I have never known my now husband to drive so carefully, constantly checking mirrors ensuring he got his first born home safely as we looked at each other and then back at Chloe in a mixture of awe and fear!
Numbers don’t bother me and they are certainly not something I cateogorise others by. I am rubbish at guessing someones age and I can honestly say I don’t actually know how old some of my friends are. The ones I didn’t go to school with I don’t know their ages and they may not know mine.
However I have set myself some goals for the next two years. There are a few things I want to achieve I ticked off running a half marathon last year and enjoyed the challenge it presented.
Here are my top four things to do before 40 – this list will be added to!
1. Fly in an air balloon. This has been on my list for a long time.
2. Raise another £1000 for Steps Charity.
3. Attend a photography course
4. Sort my garden into an oasis of calm.
Do you have goals that you are aiming to achieve?
8 Responses
When she says 40 – does she mean like 6 years? You look no where near 40. My friend is 40 this year and we were planning her birthday only yesterday. I ought to have some sort of list, I like yours. I still can’t believe my baby is turning 18 this year (and he is very good with numbers).
Try like two years!!
40 seems like such a long time ago to me, and yet 23 seems just around the corner. Age is such an odd thing, and has much to do with how we feel about different episodes in our lives, I think. Thanks to the internet, I am good friends with people 20 years younger than me and it never crosses my mind.
Now, I need to start saving for my 50th!
I am 42 and wish I could go backwards its the people who I have lost along the way that makes me sad I have aged .
That is very true Becky.
Cheers and happy birthday but most of all best of luck with your goals.
I’ve done the 40 mark and am on my way to the next – you’ve inspired me to think about some goals to achieve.
Get away! You are not nearly 40?! You don’t look it. I need a new list of goals, Team Honk helped me tick lots off. Would love to do a hot air balloon too!
can’t believe you are nearly 40! you look great! i do have things i want to do before i am 40 and i might need to make my own list too!