By Margaret Coulton
Further to my daughter’s lovely comments, I thought it would
be interesting to reflect on my weekend as I approach my 63rd birthday.
My weekend started Friday afternoon with babysitting two of my
beautiful grandchildren until 7.30pm, then onto a gig of the daughter of my
dear friend, Cathy. After a few wines, chilling to some great music, a few
dances, some karaoke (I was the best), we went back to Cathy's place for a few digestifs, a little more singing and
dancing and finally to bed at 3am.
Saturday - a beautiful sunny 25 degrees, started with a long
scrumptious breakfast with friends, then we were off to see two more of my
beautiful grandchildren. Patricia, our daughter-in-law’s mother, was kind
enough to provide a beautiful gourmet picnic lunch and a lovely white wine. We
were home by 5pm and enjoyed a quiet night with a few drinks.
Sunday, a beautiful 25 degrees again, a walk on the beach, then
prepared a delicious lamb ragout pappardelle for an early birthday celebratory
lunch with friends and, of course the love of my life, Gazza. Following a few
champagnes, magnificent lunch and a number of wines, as is the norm for our
get-togethers, we partook in a number of extremely riveting discussions,
including: the potential for starting our own reality TV series where we could
give cooking and lifestyle advice; who was going to look the best at Janet's
upcoming 60th birthday party in Hua Hin (Thailiand); appropriate hem lengths
for women of our vintage (I did not agree with the guys that it was six inches
above the knee); droopy boobs (none of us have them); politics (we all agreed
we could run the country far better than our present government); our current
medications; what we will do when we win lotto; and of course, bowel habits.
I must admit, looking after my beautiful granddaughter,
Tilly, that night was quite a challenge at the end of such a weekend!
So what do I think about this stage of my life? Bloody
exhausting!
Published in response to Not The Style Pages' SpeedBlog series
Margaret, I loved your blog entry. I am interested to know if any of your group of friends went down the path of not having children and, if so, do they have as much fun as you or do they worry about not having sons and daughters to look out for them in the future?
ReplyDeleteThanks Katherine. Yes I do have one friend with no children who has just as much fun as I do. She also has more money, more jewellery, more overseas trips, a nicer car and a very tidy house.
ReplyDeleteAs for having kids to look out for you when you get older - haha! The older I get the busier I am helping and looking out for my kids and now my grandkids(mind you I love it and wouldn't change it for anything).
However, I know people who have kids but don't have a good relationship with them or rarely see them. I also have friends whose kids have caused them tremendous sadness.
I think that as long as you have people in your life who love you and on who you can rely, talk to, laugh with and share good times with, then it doesn't matter what their relationship to you is, it's all good! All you need is LOVE!