‘Older but better, but older’writes Parisian gurus, Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mas
‘When a thirty-year-old guy arrives at a party and does not even glance at you; when you wake up feeling great and everyone tells you how tired you look; you know you’re an adult when you’re excited just to go home.’ This is where I’m at. But hey, it’s better and I realised that even more during our lockdowns and restrictions when curfew would be at 21:00 and I’d be super excited to get home.
At the mature age of 40+, you crave for quality over quantity, you become selective, you realise that you are damn lucky if you can count your friends on one hand. You know what you like and dislike, you don’t get swayed by the likes on Instagram (unless job related). You face your fears and go what it is you’re after, head on!
You wake up early to squeeze more things into your day and you appreciate every single minute of it because you know that there’s no going back. You become a little selfish and finally look after yourself, inside and out. You hang out with your grown up kids and take them for lunch dates. You become even more organised than before. You might start playing cardsJ You realise that even though you might have a family, your children although forever yours, are on loan and that it is your life and only yours so you must do what makes YOU happy.
This is where I’m at.
Even though there was no big birthday bash for me this year, my day was made extra special by the people I Iove the most. I was taken a back with all my birthday cards, my endless flowers and very thoughtful gifts but three in particular stood out the most, and they are deffo worth a mention because they were made with love and they made me cry.
The first:
My daughter presented me with this bound book which she slowly put together for me whilst studying for her end of school exams… god knows what her results will be but the result of her, ‘100 reasons why I love you’ was worth an A***. Talk about feeling damn lucky I have her! She’s one in a million!
The second:
My friend Maria presented me with a breath-taking painting of mine and her year in review. A painting, symbolic of our Covid stricken, winter swimming discovery, full of meaning. This scene from our morning routine was on repeat and it gave us all the strength we needed to get through each day. What can I say? A picture is worth a thousand words. I call it my new family heirloom.
The third:
A card box. A handmade card box made by my friend Carolina’s father. Another symbolic gift which will be treasured just like our card game moments are. What’s better than spending quality time with good friends whilst trying to beat them over a game of Birimba?
Anyway, feeling so lucky and blessed, I thought I’d share. We only live once and the most important thing in the world apart from luck as Mr. George (ex-school teacher I met at the beach) quite rightly quotes, is to share your love.
Maria x
