I took this photo at Sidmouth last weekend. It was about 9pm and I was there to collect my daughter from a beach party. It was a warm evening and the sun had started to go down casting a beautiful light across the sea. I have mixed emotions about this beach, as it is the beach that my husband proposed to me on, but it also the beach where a close friend of our family died a few years ago. Just standing there on my own it was lovely just to be able to reflect...upon sadness, but also on happier times, and I left the beach feeling touched and a little emotional.
I little while later I walked around the gardens and then went back down Jacobs ladder, where I watched (from a distance!) the party of teenagers at the other end of the beach. They apparently had had a great time, swimming in the sea and then building their own driftwood bbq which could be seen away from quite a distance! I took a group of them home, my daughter in the front passenger seat and three 17 year old boys in the back. Just listening to their banter made me smile and it brought back how wonderful it was to be a teenager, how life at that age revolves around the fun of friends and relationships...and how exciting that all can be.
And now I sound like I am old and that life is behind me. Which it is not, although I do have a big birthday coming up in the next month, which I am not (in any way) looking forward to! I turn 40 in a few weeks, and although the age doesn't scare me, the day itself does, and I almost wish that I could just skip that Wednesday and for the Tuesday to turn to Thursday. I think a bit of mindfulness is needed (it seems to be the buzz word at the moment) but no doubt work will keep me busy.
But onto more exciting things! And maybe life does begin at 40, because we're planning a big trip! My daughter turns 18 next year (and before I know it she'll have flown the nest)... and so we have decided to venture to the southern hemisphere for a holiday of a lifetime. New Zealand here we come! We are aiming to go at Christmas 2015 and so the planning (and saving!) begins.
