Thirds

I turned 39 this year.

(don't worry - this isn't an 'OMG I'm nearly 40 post... that will come another time!)

Shortly after my birthday I must have been bored or something because I realized that with that number I could neatly divide my life into thirds. What's more, the whole of the last third is my life in the UK, as I've been living here 13 years.

So surely there is a blog post in there, right?

I've been thinking about this for far longer than I care to admit so yes, I guess there is a blog post in this numerical curiosity...

So what about the other two thirds of my life? Well, the first one is probably what is considered the formative years: birth to 13 year old. The stuff that happened then is the usual growing up stuff, you know... it is still fairly impressive that in a relatively short time one goes from a helpless infant into a somewhat opinionated pre-teen but I can hardly be the only one! So let's say that those first years happened and quickly turn to the second third.

This is probably the interesting one - when I go from a fairly yucky teenager into a somewhat acceptable 26 year old young lady. This third is where EVERYTHING happened! I went to high school then university, I did all that theater stuff, I met most of my oldest friends, I developed my own personality and sense of style. I became more and more independent, I moved to the USA for a year and had the time of my life... let's say that this third is where I explored the options and made choices.

The last third is the one where I settled down. As I mentioned above, this covers the last 13 years when I've been in the UK but it also covers the 13 years I've been married. It covers my (more stable) jobs, the time when we've owned property and of course had our kids.

Gradually I suppose this last phase will outlast the other two and I would have spent a larger proportion of my life in this stable, steady, familiar stage. The perfectionist in me doesn't find that appealing: in order to keep the numbers even, I should be starting a NEW stage! But to do what?

It is of course pure nonsense to want to move on to new things purely based on a mathematical curiosity, not to mention the fact that I am happy where I am and I don't want things to change! But the thought is there, nagging at the back of my mind... that I should try and keep the symmetry going just for the sake of itself.

Maybe this is how a mid-life crisis starts...