‘I’ve only got one wish for my 70th birthday this year’

In a week’s time I’ll be turning 70 years old. What a milestone, I cannot wait!

I havn’t been this excited about a birthday for years. They just seemed to fly by with nothing really happening.

This one is different I feel that I may have finally grown up. It doesn’t seem that long since I was 50 or even younger. Time has marched on and I certainly am going to mark this birthday with a bit of a party and some cake. Perhaps copious amounts of cake. (I wish it could be a pavlova but being a Type 2 diabetic stops that in its tracks.)

My Tongan family I know will pop in as 70 is marked with a small celebration, so that will be fun. It’s been a long time since I was the sole focus of the attention, with their children getting older, including my godson, and having birthday parties. They have also welcomed new grandchildren. I will be the bell of the ball this one time.

I am estranged from my children so I won’t be seeing either of them. That makes me sad but I’ve decided there will be no dwelling on bad things for me. Not now.

Recently I started looking back over the years, from my late teens to when I was working, had my children, got divorced, then my mother passed away and also my brother had cancer (still a bit of a bother with that though). Generally I’ve had a very full and interesting life. I don’t regret much, in fact, not a lot of things were bad, sad or woeful, just flat tack busy.

I miss being busy. As I live alone the days can get long, and that’s even considering I see two sets of caregivers every day (one for lunch and showering and another to assist me with my dinner). Though I get to see various people, I don’t consider them to be friends because they are here doing their job. That’s not to say I don’t have friends, I do. I talk to one of my friends most days and we catch up regularly. Another very good friend sees me most weekends for a chat and we go out for games to keep our brains ticking over.

I gave my car to my godson for his 21st birthday as I hadn’t driven it for more than four years. I became anxious in traffic and I take enough medication to stock a chemist, so wasn’t keen on driving on busy roads with other drivers directing their road rage at me. I also found it too expensive to run a car and figured it was best to move it one.

I now use ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ cars in Auckalnd, New Zealand and the occasional taxi. When I go out being driven by someone else the world looks different and I feel sad that my life is now a bit of a drag and slightly (only slightly) lonely.

I’ve purchased a lottery ticket, gone into the depths of my wardrobe to find an outfit that hasn’t been worn for years (also had a tad of a tidy up, it certainly needed it), got out a pair of silver shoes and I’m now ready to party.

Being born on the ninth day of the ninth month I felt like this birthday, meaning the actual day itself, needed to be special in as many areas as I could cover. I used to be a fundraising events organiser for large charities so I’m eventing my own birthday, just for the fun of it.

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