It’s my birthday…

Well, here we are again, another year older and perhaps a little wiser. Every day I seem to learn something new about myself, about my work, about life. Along the way I have made many mistakes and learned from them too. I often say ‘If you learn from your mistakes, then I must be a genius by now!’

In my 63 years I have had a lot of experiences both good and not so good. But even the not so good experiences have taught me things. Things like knowing that if times get tough that my previous challenges have given me the resilience to get through almost anything. So too, I have learned through life that I am not someone who needs a huge amount of friends. I have few people in my life that I can call friend, but those that I do I know I can rely on. Quality over Quantity every time.

I have learned that what gives me peace and satisfaction is helping other people. Not to say that I am perfect all the time, but I need to be able to help people especially when they are in need. This is not just in my work, but those that I encounter out of work. I could not live a life of selfishness and one where I don’t care for others and want to help them. My best days are those in which I can make someone feel better, or happier or valued. These are the things that I value in life, being able to help people, even when they are going through a tough time in their lives. Hopefully, in the future when I am in need, others will do the same for me.

Some things I have learned in my 63 years.

• People are more important than things.
• If you make a mistake, own it. There is nothing worse than pretending or trying to deny your mistakes.
• Sometimes it is important not to talk but to listen. Many people do not feel heard and giving them space to be heard is a gift.
• The magic ingredient in all my baking. Love! Everything tastes better and makes you feel better if made with love.
• Children don’t need you to spend money on them. They need you to spend time. Time to show them they are loved, appreciated and special. Growing up with all these things will help them become great adults in the future.
• Don’t focus on the things that are difficult. Focus on the things that you can do and that are special to you. Celebrate the wins and try to get over the losses quickly and move on. You can’t avoid losing in life, but you can choose not to focus on it, but learn from the losses and they can become a positive.
• You don’t have to be genetically linked to a child to be family. Grandchildren don’t care about genetics, but respond to love and care and that is how a family is made.
• Don’t compete with the other grandparents, thinking you need to measure up in some way. As long as we all bring love into their lives it doesn’t matter how we do that. Some grandparents may be stronger in some areas than you, but what we all bring is special and individual and given with love.
• Say I love you every day.
• Make memories while you can.
• Let yourself be photographed. Your children or grandchildren won’t look at photos in times to come and think, ‘She looked a bit chubby in this one’ they will just see someone they love and they really don’t care whether you are tall, short, skinny or a bit on the chubby side. You are just someone special in their lives and those photos are capturing precious memories.
• Age is just a number!