I spent my 40th birthday on a bucket-list adventure, too busy engaging with a once-in-a-lifetime experience to think too much about the arbitrary commemoration of milestones.
I was thinking about it this afternoon, though: about where I am now vis-a-vis where I was at thirty, at twenty ten is a little harder to remember. Twenty was awful, marking both the end of a short-lived and not especially memorable relationship and a much deeper I thought friendship.
Thirty was better. My parents took my then-partner and I for an amazing lunch at Quay there were Snow Eggs! Then again, would Louise-at-twenty have believed in the life being lived by Louise-at-thirty? What will Louise-at-fifty think? Absolutes from one decade have not remained absolutes. I like to think that Louise-at-thirty would have been incredibly surprised at Louise-at-forty⦠but I think, once she got over understanding the big changes and the reasons for them, she would have been proud.
Louise-at-thirty thought she was in a relationship that would last the rest of her life; Louise-at-thirty was also ignoring fractures that would eventually become breaks. Louise-at-thirty was still working this all out: she had a sense of career, but was still working out the details.
I travel, both near and far β and this is something that Louise-at-thirty would be so impressed and pleased with. I own my own home. Louise-at-thirty knew she wanted to, but had started investing her savings in the stock market because homeownership was otherwise out of reach.
