IS AGE A BARRIER WHEN IT COMES TO FULFILLING YOUR DREAMS?

Good Morning to you,

Age is a quality of mind;

If you have left your dreams behind,

If hope is cold,

If you no longer look ahead,

If your ambition fires are dead,

Then you are old.

But, if from life you take the best

If in life, you keep the zest,

If love you hold,

No matter how the years go by,

No matter how the moments fly,

You are not old!

Norma aged 93 years

Here's a question for you.

Is age a barrier to the fulfilment of dreams?

I certainly don't think so.

Because, 

I truly believe, you are never too old to realise your dreams.

..... but let me go backwards just a little bit.... to when I was a young woman in the late 1960's. Life was very different for women, we were not encouraged to have dreams. We left school not expecting to have careers, but to get a job.... hopefully a good job. 

... and in my case, Gramps decided that I should train to become a secretary, he said I would never regret it.... and so a secretary I became.... there was no consultation, it was decided and that was that. University never came into the equation because my father really thought that it was a waste of time sending girls to university. I really don't hold that against him, because it was a different time.

.... and so office work, in one form or another became my working life.

... but I always had hobbies, I loved making clothes for myself and the girls, and I enjoyed knitting. I think I knitted every Hayfield knitting pattern for Natasha and Danielle. Yes I loved to knit, with a little crochet thrown in for good measure.

..... but what I loved the most, was cooking for George, Natasha, Danielle and the extended family. I loved trying new ingredients and as you know I cooked so many dishes from my very first cookery book. I thought I was so shi shi creating dishes like Hungarian Goulash, Minestrone soup and Nasi Goreng.... but that was it, I loved to cook and never thought of it as anything more than that... there was no dream.

I never dreamt that I would write a cooking blog, but three years ago, Ivy, Phyllis and Me! was born and I started to record all our old family recipes and I shared some new ones.

.... and because of Ivy, Phyllis and Me! I was interviewed by Gillian Harvey and was featured in the Woman's Weekly Magazine.  The article was about bloggers over the age of 50 with me being the oldest as I was over 60.

It was a dream come true, who would have thought it, I was thrilled.  I never imagined that something so wonderful would happen to me. You can imagine what Natasha and Danielle said, they never doubted it for a minute that I would be successful and are continually surprised, that I am surprised, that Ivy, Phyllis and Me! is doing so well.

..... and now, something, completely out of the blue has happened, which I am over the moon about... it is truly a dream come true.

..... and do you know what, I can't tell you at the moment, because that 'something' is not set in stone, but if it happens, you will feel my happiness.... you will feel my joy.... when I write and tell you about it.

..... and so the reason I am writing to you today, is to tell you, this is the year 2015 and not the 1960s. We can have dreams whatever age we are.  So please don't give up on your dreams, believe in yourself, don't listen to what others say.... and you never know, you just never know, what will be waiting for you around the corner.

..... as soon as I can tell you about my 'around the corner' moment, I promise you I will.

Take care and I will catch up with you on Thursday.

As always,