O.K. After writing about four pages in my journal about the first two I have something to write, I think. This has been hard.
A day or two after this list appeared; my horoscope said, "Write in your diary." So I wrote five pages about numbers 1 and 2.
Ho you probably don't want to read the whole reflections.
I start with 2.
2) Advice: I had to mull over the things the rest of you wrote. Here's what I wish someone had said to me: You don't have to get married. A woman can be single. I don't remember a time in my youth that it was not expected that I would get married. If I didn't I would be the dreaded "Old Maid" forever.
1) At eighteen I was married and would soon have the two kids I was suppose to have. I expected to live in different parts of the world with my Air Force husband or become the brave war widow like June Allison did in a movie I remember. Oh, yeah there was to be the split level home with perfect landscaping. Oh yes, staying at home with my perfect kids and a husband coming home for dinner at five or six.
Reality: I married twice and have been a widow for close thirty years. While I was trying to figure out how to rear perfect kids, keep them fed and clothed and sheltered, they grew up to be the independent individuals they are today. I'm afraid they aren't perfect. Of course neither am I. I live alone in a two bedroom,1 and a 1/2 baths on the second floor, in a 55+ apartment complex. There's a lot more to this story but you will have to buy the book when it comes out.
3) Best money: Education and travel or travel and education.
4) Not investing in AT&T in 1958. Not knowing how to manage money. Complete waste of money: All of the STUFF I have accumulated and moved and stored and then finally this summer had to dispose of one way or another. I did look at many things and think, "What a waste of money, time, and energy that went into this."
5) I have to pass on this one. See 2 and 1.
6) I'll get back to you on this one.
7) If there is a dream I will never fulfill, I have probably let it go without regret. I have new dreams all the time. I read a quote once something like this, "Reach for the stars and you'll always have a dream."
See the Gatewood blog for something else I have been thinking about the last two weeks.
5 comments:
At what point in your life did you get the revelation that you didn't have to get married?
To know more of what the attitudes were in the 60's. See the movie Mona Lisa Smile with Julia Roberts.
Sue
Glad to see your answers -- I've been wondering about your silence. I am seeing that we were shaped by outside influences a whole lot more than the next generation. I don't remember anyone at anytime asking me to look at the future. But I know my kids were always being encouraged to write about it and think about it all through their school years.
Shirley - that is an interesting observation!
My mom always told me I needed to get married. My dad always wante dus to wait a bit to find the right man. I don't think he expected me to take as long as I did! And I do belive he thought at the time I had waited far too long.
PS I wouldn't mind reading the 5 pages you wrote about 1 & 2!
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