MILESTONES....

Recently I had a milestone birthday- turning 50. Yep - as my younger brother said 'I was celebrating half a century on this planet'. Half a century sounds so old, and frankly, I know it's a cliche but I do not feel old. Well perhaps not 'that' old.

A lot has happened over the years. I do pull the exact same face as above, am still as stroppy at times. But I have also learnt a lot. I've had a lot of experiences. Some good, some not so good. Much prefer the good ones.

I grew up in a small country town, the oldest of four children. I have two brothers and one sister- and it was a childhood of imagination and games. We had limited TV access (and it was way before computers were in every home)- so we entertained ourselves. We played cowboys and Indians, complete with cowboy hats and pop guns, riding our stick horses around the yards. We built mud pies and 'sold' them in our shop. We played with the box of dress up clothes Mum had, becoming queens or kings, soldiers and firemen.

It was a childhood of picking blackberries in summer, mushrooms in autumn, fishing for trout in the local rivers, daring the waves at the beach.

I met my husband at 17. We got engaged at 18, married at 19, first child at 20.  (I'm a very logical and methodical person- what can I say). Second child was born a few years later and we settled in a small house up in the Dandenong Ranges where we lived for 18 years. Eight years ago we moved to the house we are in now. Both children have long gone- we are now 'empty nesters'. Although a few chicks, not always ours, finds themselves under our roof from time to time.

For a lot of those years I was a stay-at-home mum. It was very hard financially but we believed in being there for our children (for us they were our family). Hubby worked 2- sometimes 3 jobs, and everything we had was home made or second hand. I sometimes earned some money by sewing or knitting from home (very domestic I know).

Then after a 20 year gap from schooling I headed back. I had begun to write, did a course - it never would pay the bills- so I did another course in Library Studies. (Combining my love of books and reading with hopefully future work) And heh presto- here I am- working in the youth services area - teaching children the joys to be discovered in a book.  Becoming passionate about literacy and teaching our children that reading is a stepping stone to major discoveries.

Over the years I have lost a lot of people I have loved, family as well as close friends.  Definitely some of the not good experiences. But over all - the past fifty years have been an amazing experience.

And I'm still learning. One of our latest learning curves is with this young lady...

For two people who have never owned a horse, it is a huge learning curve. But heh, we're in for the long haul.Work in progress so to speak.

So what have I learnt over the years? If you ask the majority of my friends it would be confidence.  I was so shy for the most part of my life- hesitant- unsure. Would not dare to speak up with people I did not know.

Writing and then reading my work out loud has helped so much. (I still have my moments - and nerves get the better of me each time I stand up to read my work).  And my writing is still personal. I write about what I know, what I see, what I feel. I'm trying to understand my world.

2013 will have more learning curves for me- we have a 'holiday' booked for April (will talk about that later) - and I have a feeling that it will be a holiday like no other.

I guess what I'm saying is that the last fifty years have been a blast- I have seen some amazing sights, done some amazing things and met some of the most amazing people. So many of which I call my friends.

Here's hoping the next milestone is just as good.