On turning 29...

Sara:

I met a man today who is spending a year doing a different job every week whilst raising money for the Prince’s Trust (his website).  This was very inspirational and got me thinking about what can be achieved in a year. This has been a common thought over the past couple of weeks as at the beginning of May I turned twenty nine, and am officially in the last year of my twenties.

I must admit that this has contributed greatly to my post baby/pre-mid-life crisis crisis. I have ticked off most of the things you’re ‘supposed’ to before you are thirty: Get married, tick, have baby, tick. But what now?

Therein lies the crisis. I haven’t got a plan. I read a magazine article on the weekend about a woman who married an Italian; she said the best thing about being married to him was that the plan was there was no plan. Maybe I should take a leaf out of their book?
I will pursue this line of thought but it does jar slightly with my list making ethos. Here’s what I’ve got so far (in no particular order):

• See the Nutcracker at Christmas
• Have tea at the Dorchester
• Leave Europe
• Eat lobster
• Try gig rowing
• Try diving

I will keep adding to this (and ticking them off) as I go but it should make for an interesting, if not eclectic, year.

Kate:

I’ve never desired owning my own house, much preferring the freedom that renting offers, I’ve not even considered it to be a waste of money as it allows me to live where I want for as long as I want. However, a few months ago I was having a miserable day, surveyors wanted access to the staff house again and in a moment of whimpering moanyness I texted Simon ‘I want to move out.’ A few hours later I had got over this mood and needed to go to town, so I texted again ‘I’m going to the bank. See you later.’ I sent the messages hours apart, but Simon read them together and replied with ‘Great idea, let’s buy a house! Ask in the bank about mortgages.’

This sort of misunderstanding sums up how I have got to where I am today. If I could rewind to when I was 16 and you were to ask me what I thought I’d be doing when I was thirty, I would probably have shrugged and said I quite fancy being a windsurfing instructor in Spain. I’ve gently ambled along my haphazard life’s path and at 29 have ended up in a job that I love, with amazing friends, a man that makes me happy and incidentally I am now a proud investor in a joint Save to Buy account!

So now I’ve got a year until I’m thirty, is now the time to make a list: final things to do before I’m over the hill? Countries I haven’t been to, mountains I haven’t climbed, run a marathon, do a bungee jump? Actually I think I’m going to stick to my norm, not having a plan seems to have worked out quite well for me so far. I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything major, neither do I regret any decisions I’ve made along the line. Here’s to another year of haphazard ambling and probably many more after that, Clink!