Your Perfect (imagined) Life!

[Jitters22]

You have a blank piece of paper and a pen (or a post on Mumsnet) .... write down/describe your perfect life.

What would it be, where would you be living, in what part of the world or would you have homes in more than one place? Who would you be living with or would you prefer to be living alone?

What would your home look like, the rooms, the furnishings, the garden, the exterior? What would you be doing for a career or not, or would you prefer not to have to work?

Would you have loads of money, or be happier with just enough to get comfortable? Or would you prefer to live a more minimalist or even frugal lifestyle with very little in the way of possessions or wealth?

How would you spend your leisure time; would you like to be able to devote lots of time to a hobby or interest, and would you have any ambitions, or not?

It can be anything you like, anywhere you like, as much or as little as you like - but what would be your Perfect Life?

O and if we're talking perfection I'd want a sauna in my own home that I never have to clean and someone to come and give me a massage and do my nails once a week!

BloodyDamsons Ah I love it already!! What a lovely post! Thank you!! Although, you know what would end up happening, right?
We'd end up quarantined for weeks in some hotel outside of Lagos, waiting to test negative. In the meantime, you'd come to learn that my entire writing career is a lie and what I really do is fill out online surveys and live off nectar points (which take about 3 lifetimes to earn).
It would be like that scene from A Beautiful Mind when Alicia Nash 'discovers' her husband's office. You'd realise all of my Booker Prize Novels are just... YouGov surveys.
And then you'd just pack up and move off to Carmel by the Sea where you'd meet Rob Lowe (sorry sparklingbrook, I'm really making a hash of your fantasy life).

Perfect for me would be a big house for me and my son near my family, where I could have a room to make into a studio for doing art. And a big dog and enough money for us to get by comfortably.

I would be independently wealthy (many millions that I inherited from my parents) and live in a super chic three bedroom apartment with a long lease and no mortgage in Marylebone. I would have an amazing job at the foreign office and speak three languages - Russian, mandarin and arabic- fluently. I would look good in cigarette trousers and flats. I would have great hair. I would have a lover who is besotted by me, but who travels a lot so I don't have to see him more than 2 weeks a month.

A cosy cottage in a lovely friendly village where everyone knows everyone and supports each other. A beach walking distance and lots of greenery. There would be me my dh and three well behaved dogs. My children (adults) would all live walking distance so I am on hand to help them raise their families. I'd be a successful author and we would have enough money to be carefree and indulge when ever the fancy takes. I'd have a small group of friends in the village too.

I live in a large apartment with a walk in wardrobe and a walk in shower and thick luxurious carpets. Up on the roof terrace is heated pool, bar, sun loungers etc for residents who would be a fun, interesting mix of like minded people. I also have an on site gym. I only live here in Miami, South Beach in the Winter months. In the Summer I am back in London in my big town house in zone 1 or 2. I design fashion and I write novels, part time. I am slim and have loads of clothes. I am always hosting parties and entertaining. Partner is handsome, cool, funny, kind and intelligent with his own career and money. My DD is exactly the same as she is now but has more confidence and is happier in her own skin. Money is never a worry. I am also really good at tennis and play most days.

Poor Rob Lowe. He’s not a young man anymore and from this thread, his future looks exhausting.

I'd have a low level town house in Chelsea, with a small secluded garden, on one of those garden squares. It would be big enough for family to visit, yet cosy when on my own. I want it to be 5 minutes from Kjngs Road. It would be decorated in modern, slightly Spanish style (I have a collection of Spanish ceramics and plates), with rustic wood pieces, iron and deep velvet sofas in sienna and ochre and blue. Wood floor and rugs.
I'd have an office overlooking the garden (or even in it) with excellent WiFi, for my fabric design business, which is successful enough to maintain my Chelsea house and afford a few luxuries, without being overwhelmingly stressful.
The garden will be lush and green with some striking floral elements and a Morrocan fountain.
I'd go out for morning coffee and a croissant with friends, pick up a few bits of fresh food, then back home to work for a couple hours until lunch, taken on the balcony. Then back to work until time to make dinner for a visiting child or friend, or perhaps my partner who always knows when to come and when to stay away. Then a cosy evening by the fire with a glass of wine and good movie or box set.
To really make it my perfect life, I'd be able to eat anything without putting on weight, and have a size 12 figure that I maintain simply by walking around and the occasional Pilates class. My children would be happily settled with partners and good careers, maybe a few grandchildren.

Bigger house with a lovely garden but probably live in same village so kids could stay at same schools etc
I would be a successful novelist or radio 4 presenter
Dh would be a radio 5 live presenter or sports journalist
I would have a cleaner and gardener
I would be a brilliant runner
I would have a Barbour jacket and Hunter lined wellies
Dh would agree to a dog and the cat would miraculously cohabit with the dog harmoniously . Cat and dog would both be blessed with extensive life spans
We would regularly have weekends in London while the kids were looked after by healthy grandparents who would be happy to come and stay at our lovely big house with a choice of guest bedrooms

I would be a gabillionaire with beach side properties in the Caribbean and anywhere else in the world I fancy.
I would have staff to run round after me, including a personal chef.
I would also have a private jet to fly me to various destinations where I'd have mad adventures.

To add, that if really possible I'd resurrect my husband, who died suddenly when the kids were small. But he'd probably have to live in an adjoining house as I'm so used to being on my own!

I'd live in a little house, in a quiet area with a nice view, and a garden just big enough for a little veg patch and some chickens. I'd have a studio/shed in the garden where I'd write and make pottery. I'd have a dog and a cat.

My home would be really minimalist, no clutter, nothing I don't really need. It would be near the sea, or maybe a national park of some sort where I could go out wildlife watching and cycling every day. I'd make a lovely group of friends with similar interests. I'd also need to be doing something useful and social so I'd take a little teaching job maybe and/or do some conservation work. I like learning too so I'd be studying for another degree or a PhD or something.

My wonderful dh (41) would be healthy and not dying of stage 4 bowel cancer. As for the rest of it I really don't care.

l read a book many years ago, about two sisters who brought an island near Looe in cornwall, and that has always stayed with me. I have been to Cornwall many times and seen the island and l can just imagine myself living there,tending to the garden etc, with my beloved animals, and sitting under a sky of stars, listening to the waves of the sea at night.

@loubieloo4

My wonderful dh (41) would be healthy and not dying of stage 4 bowel cancer. As for the rest of it I really don't care.

We are in similar boats.

I'd have a pretty cottage in a rural area. I'd be a successful, published writer and spend my days writing novels and occasionally going for swanky meetings with my agent down in London. Weekends id spend hiking and drinking and eating in quaint country pubs.

I would have a holiday home somewhere nice on the west coast of America and also one a little closer to home somewhere in the Med. I'd be so rich from my book sales that I'd be able to afford to piss off to these homes whenever the mood struck me.

My kids would be grown up (not that I want to wish their lives away!) but they'd still holiday with me and visit often. They'd have loving families of their own and we'd have big, extravagant christmases together.

I would retire now instead of working until nearly 67. I would have a small detached house on one of the canaries with enough income for my bills and to run a small car, but still live alone. I would take Spanish lessons, walk the beach, read, sit in cafes drinking coffee. My grown up kids would come stay, so I guess I need enough income to pay for their flights. No more British winters, tedious work or feeling permanently knackered!

DH and I wouldn't work full time, and we would have an extra couple of children, 5 or 6 (magically appearing without the pain of childbirth). The children would love and respect each other and be happy.

We would have a home by the beach in Australia, a home in London and a ski chalet in Austria or France. We would spend our days surfing in Australia, skiing in France and playing tennis, netball, hockey, rugby in our clubs in London.

I couldn't decide where I would live so figured it's all imaginary so we'd have it all :)

I'd keep my husband, dog and DC, but add a few more DC and bring back the much-missed pets. We'd all live in a rambling Victorian house by the sea, in a village with access to a city not too far away for culture and fun. We'd be part of a great community, have a village school etc. I'd do something arty, DH would write film scripts. Our families would live nearby, but not too close! We'd all be in good health and financially comfortable and go for long walks on the beach. Blissful.

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

Small cottage in the countryside away from everyone else. Cosy interior, garden with plants, herbs and flowers. A few fruit trees. Some chickens and cats. A very quiet life spent crocheting and pottering around. Lots of cups of tea.

Basically this but dogs instead of cats. Teaching piano (I do that already) and leading a village choir (ditto).

Living somewhere warm by the beach! 🏝

Our own house (currently living at inlaws.......) with enough space for our 3 kids. Not too far from grandparents but not on top of them, no mortgages for anyone anymore.

Work wise, I'm happy being a SAHP but when baby is at school, being back at the hospital. But a part time job.

I'd basically be Diana in Coming Home. Living in Nancherrow in Cornwall with devoted servants and oodles of money. Thin and gorgeous. I'd keep the children I have but I'd like them to be much more neurotypical (not completely, just enough to make their lives easier). And I wouldn't be allergic to animals, so I could have loads of dogs and cats.
Might take Aunt Lavinia's house instead, as long as there was enough cash to travel and leave millions to my kids.

@HerRoyalHappiness

Honestly I'd settle for pain free and good mental health. Everything else is not that important to me But if I was pain free I'd be able to do more with my kids, I'd be able to walk without aids for the first time in years. I could sit on the floor and play barbies or push cars around the mat. And if I had good MH I wouldnt suffer psychosis so I wouldn't be told I'm worthless constantly or to kill myself. I'd be happy. Thats all I want from life. To be happy and pain free

I know what you mean.

I have a chronic condition too that makes me exhausted all of the time, which also means I can’t do the things I’d love to do - like going for a walk with my family.

It’s amazing what difference good health can do!!

My perfect life is impossible because I want things that don't exist in real life!

I would want to live somewhere with the sea/lakes, lovely forests and hills all within easy walking distance of my home. At the same time I'd like all the benefits of a big city close by - good public transport, swimming pool and yoga studio, lots of great restaurants/takeaways/markets, theatres, galleries - and lots of good friends within easy reaching distance.

That would be my description too!!

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

Apart, that is, from the cynical nasties who posted immediately after my OP, and who seem to have not surprisingly disappeared entirely.

Really? It was a harmless joke, no malice in it and certainly not deserving of repeated insults. It made me laugh, anyway.

Yeah, I thought it was funny too. Especially given that these threads always involve huge numbers of people wanting to be writers, though minus deadlines and painful edits and always involving lovely writing huts and a lot of pottering.