Opportunities

 Today is my birthday, always a day of reflection. I look back at the years I’ve spent on this earth. I savour the good times and avoid the less good, but the missed opportunities are the ones that bite me on the bum.

 Today I’m picking up one of those missed opportunities and running with it – well if I could run, I would, - perhaps shuffling is a better word.  Fifty years ago, as a student, I was contemplating my future. Finals loomed large and after them, well, no more student life, time for the big wide world. There were decisions to be made and applications to be written, and I suppose back then the choices were simpler.

Today from the comfort of my Scottish workspace I am looking back at my lovely young self and wondering what I was playing at. I loved writing and I dreamed of being a Reuters correspondent, but I applied to do Teacher Training instead. Was I afraid of spreading my wings? No, I was not. But there was something very strong holding me back. At twenty years old I was married, and my husband thought teaching would be a good career choice for his wife and the mother of his children (yet to come). So I became a teacher rather than a writer.

Today I launch my newsletter on Substack. I have written “stuff” all my life, but now I am finally to be a blogger and it so exciting. Here is an opportunity to write for and entertain an audience and I will not miss it this time. My blog is to be called “The Huismus”, and perhaps one day I’ll explain this choice of title, but not today.

Tomorrow will be the start of a whole new year for me and I am eagerly anticipating the months to come and all the joys and the challenges they will bring. So if you are interested in the musings of a little brown bird who is no longer brown but silver and ready to sparkle why not join me? I’ll look forward to your company in 2023.