Half Century Reality Check

When I was 18 and freshly prepped to head off the college, I had compiled a rather ambitious list of what I wanted the broad parameter of my life to be. My list was rather decisive and now, 30 years on, I remember it still.

It was quite specific. I felt in those halcyon days that I could easily accomplish the following:

-To be the editor of the New York Times.
-To marry at age 25 and honeymoon in Venice, Italy.
-To have three children, all sons, who were all artistic geniuses and devoted to me.
-To retain my figure at a size 6.
-To have multiple residences and to travel extensively.
-To work 9 to 5 only and to enjoy my vacation time and weekends as fully as my parents did.
-To write The Great American Novel by the time I was 50 (thereby launching a new career).

I am now 48 years old and I haven't accomplished any of these lofty goals. Specifically:

-I veered from the path of journalism (to my Father's disappointment) in favor of making a salary that actually paid the rent. I figured a stint in sales would eventually be abandoned in favor of the noble pursuit of content excellence. I haven't made my way back, sadly. I do rue that I resigned this path, but I was tired of substituting coffee filters for toilet paper and I needed to make a living. I don't think I especially excelled in sales, but I was a natural for financial management and building business relationships and these skills did portend a path into corporate management. In the rare moment of personal introspection, I think I did this job well.

-I didn't marry until I was 30 years old. The wedding was unconventional and the honeymoon, non existent. I still haven't seen Venice.

-I did not have children, to my very deep disappointment. But if I did, I know they would have been artistic geniuses.

-I haven't been a size 6 since high school. I knew it wouldn't last.

-So I do have multiple residences: a house I'm renting in the San Francisco Bay Area and a co-op in New York City. And should there one day be a fruitful real estate market again, I would sell both these residences in a heartbeat and buy a farm in Vermont. And a few dozen goats.

-I have traveled extensively. That I am grateful for. I would like to travel more.

-In today's world, there is no such thing as a 9 to 5 work schedule. Thanks to today's technology and the new workplace dichotomy, there is no such thing as uninterrupted vacations. That world is gone and my parents are spinning in their graves. I'm glad, at least, that they enjoyed this aspect in their lifetimes.

-I have two years left to pen my tome. I haven't surrendered this objective just yet. I'd like to do so on my goat farm in Vermont.

A girl can still dream. I still do.