People who give advice always mean well. I am not qualified to give advice to anyone considering the state of my current affairs. So I will pass on the advice I’ve been given by others which you may choose to heed or disregard (what I usually do). Many people over the past few decades have told me I should write a book about my life. They thought it was interesting. I suppose adversity and adventure is interesting to those who lead normal lives with normal limitations. Although I’ve always wanted to be a writer, I find the thought of writing a book about my life daunting. Who am I? Who would care? Who would buy it, except my friends and relatives who already know way too much about me. So now I will try this new thing – blogging.
People who give advice say that trying and learning new things will help you to stay young. I don’t remember feeling so TIRED when I was young. I don’t remember it taking so long to learn something new. As soon as I post this blog, I am going to find evidence of this staying young approach, and then I’m going to have a nap. I didn’t like naps as a young child, I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t take naps as a young adult, because I didn’t get up until after noon; there was no time. I couldn’t take naps when I became a mother, that was when I got the chores done while my children were not sleeping during their naptime. I HAVE to take naps now. If I try to skip my nap at the appointed time, my eyes slam shut whereever I may be. That is embarrassing when you are in a meeting with your attorney, reviewing the affadavits for your foreclosure defense.
People who give advice told me that you are not living the American Dream until you own your own home. Most of my life, I was somewhat of a vagabond. Always on the move, rarely in one place for more than a couple of years. I was content to rent, or even at times, live in a van or on the beach, or in the woods, with or without a tent. Stuff and things were not important to me. Adventure and new experiences were all I needed to keep me going. Sure, hurdles were thrown in my path. Sure, I tripped and stumbled and tangled myself in them instead of choosing the easy path around. That’s part of the experience of living. Where else would I get all the stories to tell. I even managed to live this lifestyle while raising my first two children. However, something changed when I had my third child at the age of 39. His father and I were determined to make up for all the mistakes we made with our others. Not that they turned out badly – not at all. It was we who felt we had failed at parenting. So when our youngest was in high school, we finally had a “normal” lifestyle with real jobs, credit cards, the whole shootin’ match. Not quite hippies to not quite yuppies. We bought a house. Five years later, I am divorced, lost my job due to illness, gained 150 lbs, became retired/disabled, and am losing my beloved first (finally) home.
People who give advice should take all their advice and write a book about it. Would I buy it? Probably not.
agelimits 