Who'd have believed it....

I can't pretend can I?

I have hit a milestone today. My son said I need to raise my bat to the pavilion to acknowledge that I am 50.My children are taking great delight in the fact as you can see by the sign they put up at the entrance to my village!

I am aiming to be fabulous and flamboyant in my fifties. A good friend pointed out that the forties are for marking time whilst the fifties are for living to the full and this is my plan! There is going to be champagne and colour and laughter and art and poetry and...and...and... Watch this space.

I must admit there have been some reflections as the last fifty years have not always been the easiest. I have loved and lost men, friends and businesses. I have found new passions and surrounded myself by wonderful friends from all over the world. I am also lucky enough to have three of the best children possible who fill my life with laughter and fun plus some glorious new people including particularly wonderful grandson and step grandchildren. I have the best family possible though we may be spread all over the country. But I am going to stop there or it could gushy!

I have traveled a bit but not as much as I would like. Maybe one day I will be well enough to get back to the States and to get over to Australia. In the meantime, Europe will be my focus with all its glories. Who knows what will happen in the future. But whatever it is I am looking forward to it.

When I was young I used to want to be a doctor and a writer when I grew up. I am now a doctor but not one of medicine as I had anticipated. And I am a writer. Who' have thought it! I have written three novels (one rewritten a couple of times can I count that as more?). I have had articles and chapters published. I have a proposal in for an academic book and am working closely with an editor on one of the novels, who has also turned into one of my greatest friends. I am a lecturer at the University of Winchester and work with The Golden Egg Academy. None of which I could have anticipated. If you had asked me when I was twenty what I would be doing when I was fifty, it wouldn't be any of these things. As I said above I cannot deny there have been hiccups in my life. Just as you are trundling along life would throw a curve ball at you. At the time they may have felt like disasters but in the long run they were always doors opening for me and taking me in a different direction. I wouldn't change any of it.

Excuse this self indulgent post but there is a serious message behind it. Don't ever give up on your dreams, you will achieve them just not necessarily in the way you fully anticipate. Enjoy life and be happy - that's what I am going to continue to do.

Below are two pieces of music that just seem appropriate. There is Robbie Williams 'No Regrets' and Bob Dylan and Bruce Springstein singing 'Forever Young'