Turning Fifty: Retrospective

Round number birthdays make me introspective, and I have been pondering the past and wondering what the future holds. Statistically it is likely (no guarantees, of course) that I have at least another quarter century ahead of me. To remind myself of just how many varied and unexpected things that could bring, I wrote a list of things that have happened in my life over the last quarter century since I was twenty five. Here goes ...

Loved and lost and loved again.
Been happily married for eighteen years.
Given birth to three daughters.
Home educated for eight years.
Converted to Catholicism.
Run a sub-post office.
Worked in local government.
Gained a first class degree in history.
Been a publisher's reader.
Won a scholarship.
Written a100,000 word thesis.
Been awarded a Ph.D.
Had two articles published.
Taught at university.
Bought a flat and a house.
Sold two flats.
Visited eight countries.
Walked 120 miles.
Flown in a hot air balloon.
Learned to play the organ.
Learned to play the flute.
Played in a chamber orchestra.
Played in a concert orchestra.
Lost twenty pounds (and put it back on again!).
Nursed my husband through major surgery twice.
Nursed my mother through major surgery twice.
Bought and sold two houses for relatives.
Learned to play the trombone.
Played in brass band.

There is probably more that I have forgotten, but that is still far more than I realised had happened in the last twenty five years until I actually sat down and thought about it. Much of it my younger self would never have imagined. I wonder what the next quarter century has in store?