A Charmed Life!

I am here on the eve of my 40th birthday and as I reflect, I have to say that I live a fairly charmed life at the moment.  That is quite a bold statement to make and I should back it up by saying that I appreciate the state of my life at the moment because it hasn’t always been this way. I have experienced the darker side of life and some of the scars are still very visible at times.  It is said that only by experiencing pain do you appreciate joy and I can certainly testify to this.  I wake up every day and marvel at the things that I do have, my children, a home and a job that really does not feel like work!  There were times when I could not have imagined carrying on let alone picking myself up and re-claiming my life.  You have all heard me laugh, whether that be in person, at the end of the phone or over the social networks.  I laugh because I can and because when I laugh other people laugh too and that makes me happy.

My favourite place in the world is my office, I can immerse myself in my own little world.  My desk is littered with trinkets and photos, these are my inspiration, pictures of my children, pen pots made by 8 year old fingers, my eldest sons ‘Oath of Allegiance’ small bears given to me by friends, they all tell a story and provide enough clutter to make me feel secure.

The Header on my professional website says;

With words I can travel, without leaving home, be transported back in time and into the mind of great intellect.  With words I can fly

These are my words and they have a poignancy. In those dark days it was books that made life bearable, gave me respite and took me away from myself.  There is no need for me to bore you with paragraphs about my love of the written word again, you can scroll down to previous posts, it is certainly a running theme both in my posts and in my life!  I read everything from Mills & Boon to Chekov, they are all valid in my opinion.  I am lucky enough to have the gift of speed reading, which means two things.  Firstly I very often have 2 or 3 books on the go at the same time and secondly my brain works quicker than my fingers and I tend to spell words as they appear in my head and not as the English language dictates that I should.  Thank goodness that someone invented ‘Spell Check’!

I never take life for granted, my work has taken me to glamorous places and given me access to some fabulous people but I am still excited by parcels from PR’s and invites to previews.  Echoes of darker times do knock me a little now and then and at these times I just work harder and laugh more.  I work for my family and for my own pride, not only professionally but personally too.  I may not be conventional, my brain may work in a way that has sent many a therapist screaming for the hills but I am happy and that to me is very charming.