Daily post: About…who knows what?

DAILY PROMPT: ABOUT PAGE OF THE FUTURE
Write the About page for your blog in 10 years.

One thing I’ve learned about life in the past 70 years is that it never turns out the way you expect. So there’s no way I can burble on about me at 80.

All this nonsense about five-year goals and ten-year goals – you’re kidding, right? Do you really think god, the universe, fate, you, or whatever other force you might subscribe to, will sit on its hands and let you get on with it unimpeded? Plans, dreams, aspirations, ambitions – have them all, as many as you can and a few more as backup, but above all, develop resilience.

Let me tell you a story.

When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was live by the sea and write.
Received wisdom said that since I was clearly not stupid (I’m still wondering about that) I should go to university, major in English, and then live by the sea and write. If that was their plan, I thought, I’d show them: I’d get my degree and trump it by going on to Oxford. (Obedient child meets rebel.)

And guess what? None of it happened. A bomb out of left field blew it all to smithereens, and there I was back at square one.

Drama school, next. An actress, I thought.
Nah. Didn’t have the balls for that.
Stage management. That was good. Loved it, found my niche.

Then I married an actor. Had kids. Thought living happily ever after, here I come! Until he, god bless him, became an alcoholic and died while the kids were still at school.

Need I go on?

Only to say that in my opinion, I’m damn lucky. Now I do live by the sea and write, I have the best family ever, every detour has taught me something, and we can all still laugh.

So carpe diem, folks. It’s the only certainty there is.

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