Looking back... towards the future!

If I may be so bold…what a glorious Jubilee you’ve had Ma’am!

A truly joyous few weeks.

It got me thinking - any milestone provokes reflection. Could Her Majesty ever have imagined at 20 how her life would have panned out? Suspect she had a fair idea of some of the landmarks she would encounter but how did she really imagine herself at, say, 50 and beyond?

So enough about you Ma’am (well for the moment anyway…) as I consider what my younger self imagined how 50 plus would play out.

So…Sue at 20 would have almost definitely betted on the following traits for Sue at 50 plus (herein known as Sue50+…this could also double as my Rapper name, should I ever need one!):

1. Sue50+ would have succumbed to the chin bob that every hairdresser she went near said would suit her. Further, she would almost definitely still be embracing a curl slash frizz enhancing hair product.

Conclusion: No! Tried it once, hated it. I don’t colour my hair… well, ok, my hairdresser does… and it remains dyed to within an inch of its life! It still skulks around my shoulders (to be clear, not the chin). That said, the curl enhancing product (in fairness it was a bit of a one hit non-wonder) has been replaced by regular keratin treatments to straighten the annoying curl which has developed over the years – I blame all those damn perms.

2. Sue50+ would have taken advantage of the ‘80s economic and financial boom and, given that she worked in the industry (well, she was a cashier in a high street bank), was likely to become an Equity Trader. Failing that, she would be married to one!

Conclusion: Having taken three attempts to pass my maths O level, I figured that this career trajectory might not be for me. I think I was distracted by all the champagne being thrown around (quite literally at times). However, I did remain with the Bank for 37 years but chose to specialise in training and HR…probably for the best! And as for marrying an Equity Trader, it turns out that despite all that champagne, they were rarely marriage material!

3. By her own admission, Sue50+ would still be a bit of an attention seeker (ahem, rumour has it that I schlepped into this world with jazz hands, screaming ‘ta-da’). So it fits that she would likely welcome all means to ‘big up’ her social profile. If there was a more immediate way to take and receive photographs – rather than rely on sending off a reel of film to Prontaprint, wait for 3 weeks and then receive 10 pictures of the inside of your handbag and headless girlfriends – she would be in seventh heaven.

Conclusion: Hell no! I’ve not taken to social media with the enthusiasm of my peers, specifically disliking most photographs of me – I can’t understand why I look less Sienna Miller, more Windy Miller. I feel shallow, vain and rather ashamed to admit that I rarely like photographs of myself. I know, I know - I’m fit and healthy so need to just get over myself! This phobia’s exacerbated as most people look at pics on their mobiles and, not satisfied to just look and admire, they zoom in and it’s at that exact point that it goes horribly wrong. As for FaceTime… two words… ‘please don’t’! How we would have laughed if we knew 30 years ago that we would be taking more pictures of our food than of each other. I am a works in progress though and overcame this phobia on a recent trip to Dubrovnik when there was a sensational sunset and I trilled ‘quick, let’s get a selfie with the sun’!

4. Sue50+ assumed that she would have done the Dolly Anderton ‘Everything I know about Love-esque’ flat share with a group of friends.

Conclusion: Went straight from home (as a super indulged youngest child who didn’t even have to make her bed… I was 24…I know!) to my first marital home. I was in total shock for as many years as the marriage lasted! However, few would recognise the 24 year old trying to work out what to do with a tin of Mr Sheen and a duster compared with the neat freak I’ve become. If the opportunity arose now, those girlies would be queuing up in the knowledge that the cupboards would be perfectly stacked and there would be fresh bed linen on demand. Also suspect that I would imagine that by 50 I might never have to endure the feeling of being dumped again… but underestimated that this would be replaced by the feeling of losing a loved one.

5. Besides hairgate (point 1 above), I suspect Sue50+ thought that her style might have dumbed down a little and that she would have little regard for fashion and more for elegance and comfort. She might accept that she would have stopped shopping in Etams and resigned herself to using her Green Shield Stamps in Woolworths to buy a nice dirndl skirt and pair of comfy brogues.

Conclusion: Not so! Could this be the current version of me who is knee deep in various versions of the Blazer Dress, contemplating which one she can pull off? I now have the benefit of understanding what works for me and guess I do have a bit of a uniform going on. If I had a pound for every time I hear ‘this is soooooo Sue’, usually when regarding a Breton top, a shift dress or a pair of Russell & Bromley knee boots, I wouldn’t have to contemplate marrying that Equity Trader!

So, what are the values I admire in my 50+ style icons?

I respect style, attitude, kindness and sassiness (not sure this is even a word but I like it!). I’m not talking about those who we see in the street and conclude that there must be a cut price Botox stall up ahead judging from the people coming back this way – give me natural any day. That said this just might be my inner scaredy cat talking – I’m too nervous to have those kind of tweakments – but each to their own for sure.

So whilst Sue50+ can never imagine her legacy to be a majestic one, she vows to live an honourable life, be as elegant as she can and, above all, rock that sass!