I’m currently in Dubai….
On turning sixty
One of the reasons I particularly wanted to escape the country for the first week of January was because the week contains my birthday. This year, my birthday has a zero on the end of it, making it loom before me like some kind of giant milestone.
Or tombstone.
I feel much the same today as I did yesterday of course; one day doesn’t fundamentally change things. This time it is different though, if not for me then in the eyes of the world beyond.
I am now officially old.
If I needed any proof of my old person status, I am now entitled to something called a senior railcard, which will see me whizzing around the UK a third cheaper than I could have done it last year.
In turning sixty I feel as if I have moved from one room to another; this new room, whilst still full of fun and frivolity, is just a little nearer to the exit.
There are no more boxes left to tick. The one I tick now is normally the last one.
I do have a sense of time running out and a need to savour what is important to me, sloughing off the deadwood: the people and things that don’t bring joy to my life.
My mantra for the coming decade is: if it requires fake smiling then I’m not going. I no longer stay later than I want at social gatherings because it’s ‘polite’ or make time in my life for people who moan and criticise or just don’t get me.
The various health issues that I have had over the past year have forced me to reassess my lifestyle and settle down a little, although maybe that was something I needed to do anyway. I have been craving the sense of community and connection that you don’t find when you move from one temporary home to the next. I have not given up travelling, I have simply added other things to my life.
Categories: Uncategorized
Loading...
Happy Birthday! I’m jealous of your discount rail card. All I got was an AARP card. 🙂
well I take anything I can get
Thrilled to see and hear you are living it up. Purple has so many shades they are all with exploring. Here’s to new journeys and new discoveries of countries, communities and self!
my mother always said mauve was an old maid’s colour, but I quite like it. like a subtle purple
Hello Sarah. Belated birthday greetings and I hope you embrace your 60th year with love and energy. As you know we are born the same year and I am planning something exciting (ish) every month to celebrate reaching 2020. Even though this was the year I was initially supposed to retire (when I first started work) and that is not going to happen; I will look forward to applying for my Freedom Pass giving me free travel in London! Yay, there are many positives about getting old. Sounds as if you had a good time in Dubai; however, for numerous reasons that is one country I will never visit. Here’s to the next 60 years. Much love Karen xxxx
Yes Dubai was never somewhere I wanted to go but my birthday is a really awkward time and I only had a week to spare and I wanted heat.
Have you done your exciting January thing yet? I made a list of 20 things to do in 2020 but I was struggling to find 20 things to do that are reasonably possible.
Funny we’re born the same year yet you’re just 29.
Yes this should be my retirement year by rights. Strange. I don’t get the freedom pass because I don’t live in London but I get to buy the rail card that gets me a third off; I also get free prescriptions and a bowel cancer test.
Onwards and upwards I suppose
Xxx
Oh free prescriptions, I never knew that. January’s thing is actually on 1.2.20 I’m going to a lovely vegan restaurant with my daughter for her birthday. In February and March I’m back to Australia 😊. Purple has always been my favourite colour. Take care xxx