Tomorrow I am 61, but I've just got used to being 40...

I've just got used to being 40 tho'

How does it happen, eh?

Time rolls by and just as soon as you have got used to the fact you are middle-aged you are pushing at the door of being old. Have you looked in the mirror recently and been surprised at what you see? That's not me, honest. That sagging face surrounded by the wispy grey hair, where did that come from? The age spots on the back of my hands have appeared so slowly that when I noticed them fully grown one morning it was with with some shock: when did they get here?

A young guy said to me recently [and I quote] 'Your age is quite old...'

You wait, buster!

So now I have the time to follow any pathway in life I so desire - I don't have the time to see the pathway to its end. So much to do and so little time. At 61 I may have 10 years of active work left in me, you think? Crikey! What did I do in the last 10 years? I did hear of a woman in her 70's who was signing up to do a PhD, and she can't be expecting for it to reap financial rewards for the rest of her life - she's not going to land a position with that qualification that will earn her back the money she has spent on attaining it, so why do it?

Because life isn't about money, is why. It's not just about training for a particular job, or upping your skill set to be more useful to prospective employers, or performing better at your job. You can learn new stuff just for its own sake, just for the deepening wisdom pool you carve out for yourself, just for taking time to learn something worthy...

I know I took my degree late and didn't finish till I was 50, but should I have done it earlier? Should I have taken time out [so much time as it happens] when most of my kids were small and I was pregnant/had a baby/toddler/so many little ones?

Nah. I know I'm old mature, but I seem to have the best of both worlds. I have a large family and now a profession. Now is the time when I can concentrate; not during sleepless nights and through wet beds and school runs. So, I may not have time left in my life to climb any ladders to the top, but I don't want to.

I've trained as a Medical Herbalist, I help run a training school and I still get to hold babies when my kids produce some each year. I've not done so bad.

So, at 61 I can say I have no regrets. But looking at that photo, maybe I ought to visit a hairdresser...