25-year-old me would never imagine...

"5 Things I Never Pictured In My Future When I Was 25 Years Old."




Okay, I have been wanting to play Flashback Friday ever since CableGirl started it. But I have been having a hard time getting my mojo back and blogging more regularly. We seem to be operating in crisis mode around here much of the time, and I am tired of blogging about that. So I came across this meme when I was visiting Greeblemonkey and I thought I might combine the two..

"What would my 25 year old self be most surprised about?"

I am surprised to find how hard it was to answer this. I was a pretty astute 25 year old and kinda figured I would be married (again) and eventually have kids. I was communicating on the DARPANET (the US Defense Department Network that eventually became the Internet) with colleagues around the world, and not only about business, so while I did not necessarily predict blogging, it would have been a natural extension to my life back then.

However...


1. I never expected I would be living in Europe. And I don't think I really knew where the Netherlands was! UK, France, Germany, Italy, yeah. But Netherlands-Belgium-Luxembourg (the call it Be-Ne-Lux for a reason) I would have been fuzzy on.

2. I never expected I would not always have a career. I had worked so hard on my degree and had plans to keep going (which I did). I was doing really great in a male-dominated field that was really taking off (early Silicon Valley days). And I just figured I would combine marriage and career and motherhood the way many women of my generation were already starting to do. And though I have really only been out of the career mode for less than 5 years, there are now some tax and insurance complications which make going back to work much less attractive financially, even though the kiddos are at a point where I could logistically swing it without too much disruption (or so I tell myself). But we sat down and did the numbers a couple of months ago and it would end up costing more if I went back part-time and it would only provide a small benefit if I went to work full-time. And quite frankly, it just is not worth it. So I am now in the process of mentally adjusting my self-image to one of no longer of being a career woman. And that is really something I never expected to do.

3. I never expected that music would no longer be a big part of my life. It was for so many years. It paid the grocery bills when I was in college. It was my social life when I was 25, playing groupie and roadie and back-up singer to a techno-pop band. And I was singing in the church choir on Sundays. Nowadays it is DD1 & DD2 who do most of the singing. And when the rare occasion occurs that the spirit moves me and I sing along with some of my favorites, they no longer sit enthralled but complain that the neighbors or their friends can hear and I am embarrassing them. (sigh)

4. I never expected I would be in such poor physical condition at this age. I had no idea that I would lead such a sedentary lifestyle playing chauffeur to kids. Plus the fibromyalgia has really put a cramp in my routine. I have a lot of work to do...

5. I never expected I would be known as the "Creative Mommy". My whole position has been that I am not about to spend the outrageous amounts for the pre-packaged parties and crafts when I can come up with something equivalent by using my imagination and what I could find on sale. And I figured out the trick to the fancy birthday cakes is extra icing (it covers a lot of errors). And now I find myself with the reputation as the Mom who throws the best birthday parties and I often get calls from desperate mothers who find out they cannot get the date they want for the pool/bowling center/tennis club/horse paddock or jungle gym, so what to do with a houseful of elementary school kids? Now if I was known as the "Cheap Mommy", that would not have been so unexpected!

Well I may be stretching the "Flashback" definition, but it really took me back to try and figure out how my perspective has changed. I promise to do better next time, but if you want to see how others have told some of their tales, check out 42 (she's a real hot number!!)