The Journey of being 50 Begins

 

Thanks for joining me!

Where do I begin hmmm…Let me start by telling you about me and my crazy family.

When I turned 50 I thought wow I am really old, 50 really how did that creep up so fast!

But it was just another turning point in my life.  Kids all left home empty nest syndrome set in badly at first so we got a dog for the first time that is a story in itself bless him!

Life had took on a whole new meaning, it was called freedom! Wow I can walk around naked, watch what I want on TV, cook what I like, read a book without getting disturbed and most importantly I can go to the loo without a banging on the door with a troubled daughter asking me the meaning of life. Well that’s what I thought.

But then it started, can we come over for dinner? Can you babysit? Can you pick the kids up? Can you take the kids to sport? The list goes on.  Suddenly I see more of my family than I did when they lived with me.  To be honest I really don’t mind. With four daughters it was never going to be a complete break.

Tuesday nights are the night I get a house full, all over for dinner, the girls their partners and the grand kids, my brother in law and of course I get the middle daughters dog too. My house turns into a crazy place with everyone wanting different meals and talking over each other constantly, and two dogs barking and chasing each other around man it is very loud and sends me in to a spin. After eating my husband and his brother sneak off to play darts and leave me among the chaos. I think I can handle things but sometimes I find it very difficult to keep up. Eventually they all go home and I am left cleaning the mess and exhausted. I am left thinking how the hell did I manage all this when they were at home,

I have often refer to my family as a helicopter family, we are extremely close and always sticking our noses into each other’s business, everyone is very opinionated and let’s just say we often agree to disagree or world war three breaks out. My daughters are always quick with a dig about my age and like to remind me I am in my 50’s, something I really don’t need reminding of.

I work full time and the rest of my time is taken up with family or going out with my husband, oh and how he loves going out, either drinks, a meal or to see a band whatever takes his fancy. Me on the other hand prefer to stay home and do my own thing but I rarely get the chance. I honestly thought once I turned 50 life would slow down but on the contrary it is in full swing.

My mum told me many years ago once you hit your forty to fifty everything you did in your early years will catch up with you, well wasn’t that the truth.  I have had my right hip replaced at 44, I have had issues with my back and other aches and pains, but nothing is going to slow me down.

I guess the thing with turning 50 you don’t feel it you still feel young, then one day you look in the mirror and jump back thinking who the hell is that old bird looking at me in the mirror, news flash it me!  I try to look after myself, creams lotions, hair dyes, eat right and try get some exercise but nothing helps but a cake of foundation and a load of makeup.

I recently had an incident where I decided to play beach cricket with the family, forgetting my age yet again and being a rather competitive person I was about to get run out so I took the big dive to save myself from being stumped and that was something I began to regret, yes I cracked a rib ouch, another reminder of my age haha.

Well as my journey towards 60 continues I am sure I will have a lot more tales to tell, of my crazy family and my struggles with accepting my age. Till then love who you are and enjoy every second.

“You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path.

Holiday Fun

My idea of a good holiday has changed so drastically over the years.  I used to love going to fast action places where we would party hard,shop till we dropped and not stop the whole holiday. These days its all about relaxation, guess I have been feeling like my party hard days are all behind me now.

I have just returned for a fun holiday in Bali, i spent my first week with good friends on a hens party, the younger girls were up for anything and had an endless source of energy.  I recall watching them and thinking to myself  “I wish that was me still”, don’t get me wrong I can still party with the best of them but my poor body has it’s limits these days.

The second part of my holiday was with my Mum, Dad, two sisters and brother in-law, it was a lot more subdued.  I spent time just chilling out doing nothing at all but people watch and sip on some delicious cocktails, or I would float around the horizon pool feeling totally chilled out.  We had some amazing food and chatted at dinner and that is were the night generally ended. A couple of nights we went out but no doof doof music and crazy antics, just sitting around listening to a band, sipping on our drinks and chatting.

Now I am home I have convinced everyone we need to go back next year. I am not going to be that boring old person, I am going to live it large, eat drink and dance the night away.  I have myself convinced I need to slow down but that is not who I am.  I am going to live it up the whole two weeks, and I don’t care what others think of me.

I believe that society dictates that because you are not in your twenties or thirties anymore you need to act a certain way, well to hell with society I am in my fifties and I am not ready to go into a cocoon and wait to pop off the perch.

Bring on my next adventure, live large!

Live, Love, and Party Hard no matter how old you are.

Who loves presents 🎁

Don’t know about you but when I was a kid I would be excited for weeks about my pending birthday. So excited for the presents I would get.

Then the big day would come along and I would get showered with boxes in bright and cheery wrapping, I would hurriedly open then so happy and overjoyed with whatever I received.

Kids today wow talk about a new generation, if you give them something not in the shape of a gift card or cash it’s disappointment city.

I love to shop for my grandkids and wrap up what I think is an awesome present, but they would seriously prefer money or a gift card. This makes me sad I feel they get so much and they have no real appreciation of the effort and love I put into their gifts.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not putting down the new generation, but I have seen first hand “Mum I want this” and it’s ok no worries.

Mums and Dads think they missed out when they were young and don’t want their kids to miss out. However they never missed out at all they were learning if you want things in life you need to earn them, you can’t have everything you want, there are no free rides.

Appreciation comes with waiting and working towards a goal, when you get there it’s a fantastic feeling. My kids had a chart they earned their pocket money doing chores around the house, I never forced them but no chores no pocket money, it worked for me. They grew up learning you want things in life with hard work you can accomplish anything.

I refuse to give in to the cash and gift card world and will continue buying presents hopefully they will be appreciated.

Happiness does on come from what we get but from what we give.

It all happens in threes -Dorothy Symonds

Ever had one of those months that seems to ridiculous to be true ?

This was a few years ago, clumsy does not even cover it.

It was Thursday number one, I had fed the family my husband took off to play volleyball. I was doing the dishes, next minute I pulled my hand out of the sink and wow there was a fork with the whole prong stuck in the webbing between my pinky finger and ring finger. I did not feel anything and was so shocked, my daughter saw what had happened and took off and called my husband, before I knew it he was back running up me saying are you ok what happened?

My daughter had told him “get home quick Mum stabbed herself” ha ha a quick trip to emergency a tetanus shot and removal of the fork I was good as new.

Thursday the following week we went to a party on a friends property, it was great, a big bonfire, good music, few bevies and catching up for an amazing BBQ with amazing people.

I decided to help clean up and was taking some plates into the house, it was toasty warm inside with a raging potbelly heating the house. Once inside my friend tripped and spilled corn kernels all over the floor, I slipped and yes landed clumsy cow I am I landed straight on the potbelly with my right hand, wow never have I felt pain like it.

My hand instantly blistered and throbbed, everyone there were drinking and nobody could drive me to the hospital so I rode the night out with my hand in a bucket of iced water.

The next day my husband took me into a chemist and asked for something for a burn, the chemist asked me to show him my burn, I showed him my hand and he was horrified he looked at my husband like he was crazy and said get her straight to a doctor. The entire palm of my hand was a massive blister.

I felt like the clumsiest person alive and as the pain subsided and a visit to the emergency I was all sorted. Once it healed I never even had a scar.

Thursday number three, I was looking forward to watching the Wimbledon grand final, being winter I thought I would take the portable TV into the bedroom and watch the tennis in my cosy warm bed.

I unplugged the TV and went to walk into the bedroom and yes you guessed it, I tripped, down I went face first onto the TV.

I had a piece of the TV stab me under the chin, my teeth bit straight through my tongue and shattered together, I snapped my jaw on the left hand side and fractured it in two other places, dear lord what a mess.

My lovely husband came in to see what I was up to and looked at me laying on the floor and typical man style said “what are you doing?”

I thought are you for real haha. He realised then I was in a bit of a way and got me up and into the car, back to emergency we went.

Once there he got taken away and investigated for domestic violence, poor bugger he was getting blamed for my clumsiness.

This one took a while to get over, I lost six molars, my bottom tooth and my front tooth. But I recovered well, a lot of dentistry but all good. My jaw was a clean break so did not require wiring luckily. I had a staple diet of soup for quite a while and lost a good lot of weight which was a bonus.

I have to admit I wrapped myself in cotton wool on Thursdays after that fun trio haha.

I am forever hopeful that I will have another trio of events however I want them to be amazing haha.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Dot@01233478

Out of control – Dorothy Symonds

Recently I have had some health scares and other family issues going on, I have come to the realisation that I can’t control everything going on.

I guess with this realisation comes acceptance that you need to roll with the punches and keep punching back.

The old saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is very true.

Through everything I have now quit smoking, and tomorrow is the start of my new healthy living and new outlook on life.

I have partied hard over the years, oh and I have had a ball. Drank to much, stayed up to late, made stupid choices, hurt people I love and had been pretty selfish. I then lost myself and began hating being me.

As I’ve aged these self indulgent things are no longer who I am, nor are they important to me anymore.

I have the most amazing family and friends, a good job and a wonderful loving husband, not to mention my crazy pooch who loves me no matter what.

Alice Cooper once said “be the person your dog thinks you are”, when you think about that it’s quite an inspiring saying, and one I have taken onboard.

My life is about to get a whole lot better. I am going to be a better person with a lot more purpose.

I think we all need to be a little selfish at times and I will be taking time to make me happy and do things that will make me feel like I am worthy to me.

So love yourself and the love you have for everything and everyone else will happen naturally.

My Mum Inspirational – Dorothy Symonds

My mother has inspired me many times throughout my life.

As a young girl my Mum worked split shifts in hospitality, anywhere from five to seven days a week, she also managed to cook out meals wash our clothes and run a household and took it all in her stride.

We all chipped in and did our best to help her out, I remember being in awe of her she seemed to have an endless supply of energy, and I was a young girl and just lazy at times.

When Mum finally retired from work she found she had way to much time on her hands, so she looked after her nine grandchildren whenever she could, she would do the sports runs and have sleepovers she was amazing.

Mum also joined the gym, going every morning, she does aerobics, aqua classes and then coffee and cake with her many friends.

At the age of seventy Mum was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, it was a huge shock to us all, however she was so calm about it. We were told it is the most aggressive form of breast cancer and the recovery rate is very low. Still Mum just got on with it, she had a mastectomy of her left breast and went through months and months of radiology and chemotherapy still without complaint, amazingly with all this going on she still continued with the gym and going out with her friends.

Mum is five years post op and has been cleared from cancer, I truly believe it is her amazing attitude that has got her through.

To celebrate Mum and Dad are off to Bali in August, very well deserved holiday.

Mother’s Day is on Sunday here in Australia, so happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Mums all over the world, especially mine. Love you Mum xx

Laugh at yourself – Dorothy Symonds

I do some really crazy stupid things, no I do a lot of dumb stupid things.  I have learned that you need to be able to laugh at and with yourself, whats the point getting upset.

I know so many people that will, have a stumble, fall off a chair or some other clumsy thing and get all upset and embarrassed.  I have to admit if it is me and I am not hurt I just have a good chuckle about it, why not you cant change it.

Let me tell you a story of my fun day at the beach.

A few summers ago I went to the beach with my sister and her partner, we took our dogs and were having a great time.  As the day went on the swell started and the waves started rolling in.  Awesome I thought, loving a good body surf, however as the waves got bigger I found it harder and harder to stand. Yes that is right I was the overweight older person rolling around in the surf unable to get up. Every time I got my balance another wave would come and knock me down again, then the current would take me about and I would surf back in only to repeat the whole process.

Where was my sister you ask while this was all going on, and as I was about to take my last breath, well she was on the shore taking photos of me, doubled over belly laughing with her partner, my poor dog was beside himself yelping and crying from the shore as he was to scared to come into the water, maybe he thought i might drown him trying to get my self to a standing position.

Eventually an big wave took me right to the shore, I must have looked like a beached whale as I rolled out of the surf. I was so excited to get out and back on my feet. Once I was stable I took one look at my sister and we both burst into fits of laughter,  deep down I wanted to strangle her but what the hell what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I have to admit if it was her I would have laughed ad well.

Now every year around the same time I get a picture appear on my Facebook of me rolling around the surf with my bum in the air, not a great look I must say. But we all have a good giggle about it especially me.

Home

They say home is where the heart is well my heart is certainly home.

I feel so blessed to live in a beautiful part of Western Australia. I live in a town called Rockingham, it is one hour south of Perth with the most stunning sunsets and awesome beaches. We have a fantastic cafe strip with amazing restaurants.

I love spending time at the beach either fishing or having a stroll with my husband and dog Harvey.

There is so much to do here and many community events.

I have added a picture of a quokka we made friends with at Rottnest Island.

I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

I just wanted to share were I live, hope you like the pictures.

My ears are bleeding

I love music, I have always stood by if it has a beat and you can dance to it bring it on, and if its too loud your too old.

Recent events have made me squirm, I thought I had heard everything till this.

I went to my daughters house for her engagement party which was fantastic except, one of their friends took control of the music. Oh dear lord it was screaming nonsensical noise, I thought the devil himself was about to appear and consume us all. Wow wee it was loud and made me cringe with fear haha.

After about half an hour of this I had enough and I certainly was not the oldest one there. But I decided enough was enough so time to change things up and put on some good old 80’s, everyone loves the 80’s music right. Well screamo boy did not he more or less called me an old fuddy duddy and went to change it back but thankfully my daughter intervened and the 80’s stayed, let me say he was less than impressed.

My girls listen to all kinds of music, a lot of it today is rapping and the lyrics contain a lot of swearing, really is swearing necessary personally I think not. I do not want my grandkids growing up listening to that sort of music thinking they are acceptable words.

My girls grew up with my music, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and anything 80’s, it is fun music you can sing along to and bop around, how do you sing along to screamo music I ask you. It seriously makes my ears bleed.

Music can bring back memories both happy and sad, everyone has their own taste of what they like and I’m up with that.

Guess I am not up with all the new trends in the world of music and each yo their own, however I do think though in a party situation you need to cater to the masses and mix it up.

Music as is everything else in the world is evolving and changing which I accept but please I never want to hear that devils screamo music ever again haha.

Let’s all celebrate music that has a beat and you can dance to.

The Golf Widow

My lovely husband and I used to spend our weekends going to lunch, the local markets, going for a drive and having a picnic, maybe a day at the beach or fishing. But as he has also moved into his 50’s he has decided golf is the activity of choice on the weekend, an activity that does not include me.

Yes sad but true I have entered the realm of the golf widow.  My husband Andy plays golf most weekends and that leaves me with a lot of free time. At first I was a bit lost and spent the weekend cleaning and cooking up a storm and mostly being bored with my own company, but now things are much different.

I have dedicated my Saturday mornings to my eldest grandson, he is 8 years old and plays Aussie rules football, I go to all his games and be the annoying Nanna on the sidelines cheering every time he touches the ball, like he is the only one in the team.  I know he  secretly loves it, because after all its all about him.

After footy I go home get the housework done and have a chill out with my dog Harvey, let me tell you a bit about my mental case dog. He would have to be the worlds most needy dog, he will not leave my side while I am home, he follows me from room to room and whimpers if I am out of sight even for a few minutes.  He is scared of just about everything, which is so frustrating.

The other week our fire detector was beeping periodically reminding us it needs a new battery, well poor old Harvey was petrified, he jumped on my daughters head trembling like I would if someone had a gun to my head. I could not calm him at all till I realised the problem, I got a step ladder and took out the battery and he was all good again. I then decided to vacuum the house and as soon as he saw the vacuum come out he ran out the back garden and hid, I guess he thought I might suck him up or something haha. He runs from drink bottles, the remote control, the broom, mop and many more things.  He is the most pampered pooch I just don’t understand his fear of everything.

THIS IS MY CRAZY DOG IN ONE OF HIS SCARED MOMENTS

SITTING ON MY DAUGHTERS HEAD

I will take him to the park and he will chase the ball till he is totally exhausted, when we get home he will drink a gallon of water and flake out for about ten minutes then pesters me with the ball again, seriously crazy dog.

Anyhow back on the subject of my golf widow weekends, I love to use this time to catch up with my daughters and the rest of my grand kids, they will either all come over or I will go see them.  I also catch up wit my parents, I try to see them at least three or four times a week. My family all  live close by which is a blessing.

Some weekends I just chill out with my sisters or my friends having a good gossip and catching up on events.

When there comes a weekend where my husband is home now I feel like he is interrupting my routine now, so golf is now encouraged. He only plays Saturday now so Sunday is our day together which is awesome, we will go down to the local boardwalk and have  a meal and a beverage or two and just enjoy being together.

I guess the point to all this is to enjoy being with you, love your own company and enjoy your own space, I have grown to accept that I am quite happy being with just me, oh and of course my mental dog Harvey.

“Enjoy being in your own company as you are the one person you can count on living with for the rest of your life”.

The scary truth

Dorothy Symonds

As a 14 year old girl I decided to follow the cool group, the kids everyone admired and wanted to be around.

The cool group were all smokers, so to fit in I decided I would smoke to. Looking back now they really weren’t that cool after all.

This is the one regret I have in my life.

I am going back 40 years here and as a young girl education about the dangers of smoking did not exist. You could smoke anywhere, on a plane, at the doctors, supermarket, pubs and clubs and in all workplaces. Everybody smoked it was just the way it was an was very acceptable.

I never thought about quitting, smoking was my crutch, every time I had a problem or issue I’d reach for a ciggy, this habit I have carried for forty years. Only now have I decided to give away the demon cigarettes.

What has prompted my decision was I got sick, my chest was congested, I got a nasty cough and then the most terrifying thing happened, I started coughing up blood not just a little but a lot of blood.

The day this happened my husband raced me to the emergency department at the local hospital, by this point it was worse. I was rushed straight in and had blood taken, an ECG, X-ray and a CT scan. All my tests have come back clear and no cancer detected however I have one more test to come, a camera into my lungs to confirm the diagnosis, fingers crossed.

When this all began I was terrified thinking this is it I’m going to die, I have lung cancer my life is over.

Typical me I always think the worst case scenario. Although I am not out of the woods yet I am focusing on a positive outcome.

The thing is, I said I wish I knew then what I know now about the dangers of smoking, in reality i have known for a lot of years now. Many of my friends have successfully quit but I ignored the warnings, thinking nothing bad will happen to me, how wrong and stupid was I, I’m no different to anyone else so why not happen to me.

My biggest challenge now is to make smoking history, goodbye to a life long habit and hello to healthy lungs.

The money I will save on smoking approximately $9,000 Aussie dollars will go on a cruise with my husband that day will be a true celebration.

So if you are a smoker seriously think about giving up don’t wait for something terrible to happen, don’t put your loved ones through the stress and worry I have put mine through. Think of the money you will save, you too could go on an amazing cruise.

I’m not going to lecture anyone you will know when you are ready and to all of you who have never smoked well done I totally admire you.

All you need to do is focus on today don’t worry about tomorrow just worry about today.