What were you doing half your lifetime ago?

[Bobje]

I was 26, working in London, living with my sister in a very nice flat, just off Russell Square.
We both worked in media and were having the time of our lives.
Little did I know, in the following week I would meet my now DH.

I had a toddler, and had just gone back to work full time after an extended (unpaid) career break. This was long before you could take a year off. I paid all my missed pension contributions back, out of my pay, which I'm now reaping the rewards of.

Living in Oman, teaching EFL part time at the British Council, contemplating returning to the U.K. with dds of still primary age. Didn’t want to stay after dd1 was secondary age, it meant either boarding school or the local English speaking, but although it was great for younger children, not so much for,older ones - we were too familiar with what we called the ‘overseas daughter’ syndrome. If you don’t get them home by a certain age, too often they don’t settle, and think of a country that can never be theirs, as home.

Living in same house I am in now and having DC3

I was 22, had just returned from a trip to France with my now ex where we’d gone to Paris and the Le Mans 24 Hours. I was around 3/4 months pregnant but we didn’t know it yet, I had wondered why the beer tasted weird in France and had just put it down to being in a different country so I ended up drinking water and Coke everywhere instead. I was on the pill so didn’t find out for a little while yet as I was still having what I thought were periods. It would be another month or two before I found out, I can’t remember exactly now.

Been married 2 years (not married to him now!). 9 month old DD and already 4 months pregnant with DS. Money was tight but I was happy. Then!!

I was 31/32, but I have to look at the year to figure out what I was doing. I was back in the US, either doing my Masters or working at a graduate Art school. I owned a one bedroom flat and had a dog. I was not great - really at a crossroads. My masters didn’t lead me to the job I hoped and my romantic life couldn’t have been deader. My job was good but just not what I wanted. I struggled on for a couple years then moved back to the UK.

I was. 27, married but pre kids. Both working, doing up our first house and enjoying holidays. Parents still alive and having lots of fun happy times but by Christmas DH’s parents split amid a seedy affair with a friend of MIL and the bubble burst somewhat.

Refusing to wear a skirt in my agency job between my 1st and 2nd year at uni. 😆 Was working for upper crust at the mod site in Euxton and I said I'd rather go home and not come back than wear a skirt. Not sure why a skirt was needed just to deliver coffee and sandwiches to boardrooms. I went to uni late so was nearly 27. They relented and let me stay in my trousers.

I was 35, SAHM to two DC, about to start a part-time job in a college. Lovely house in lovely city. Plenty of friends and comfortably off.
Husband progressing happily in his career, but cracks appearing in the marriage which limped on for another five or six years. After that followed a very difficult few years which I would rather forget ..

I was 21 and just home from a year abroad teaching English and about to head into my final year of uni and a flatshare with my friend. I’d just have had my 21st birthday celebration a week ago and was probably still feeling the effects of it! 🤣 It was an exciting time - everything seemed possible.

I was happily married with an 18 month old , working very part time as a night staff nurse . My in-laws had just gone NC with me , which was lovely from my POV . We were in the process of selling our house to move to where we still live today .

Just arrived in London on a working holiday visa. Met my now DH shortly after and never went back. Now lived here as long as I lived in my home country. A bit strange really. Was never part of my plan.

A couple of weeks away from turning 20, working back in my home town and getting excited about starting uni! I was maybe 6 weeks away from meeting the bad boy 3rd year who I would eventually marry 😂 I had probably just bought my first iPod and my black Motorola razr phone. Felt so fucking cool.

Already married for 12/13 years and TTC for a couple after a false start when DH was ill. Finally had DS at 36. Still happily married.
Lovely home, good job, lots of great holidays, two cats, very happy despite the absence of the long awaited DC.

How did things go for you all?

Late 20s
Living w Dh (then partner) in lovely flat with a cat
working in central London having a great time - loads of drinks on a Friday after work, meeting up with friends etc.
prob one of the best periods of my life (sadly, unbeknownst to me my mum would only have a year to live)

Living overseas and about to get married to DH after a whirlwind romance. 29 years married next month despite the concerns of both sets of parents and our friends that maybe we were rushing things a bit.

I was 21 ish, just left university with a crap result due to laziness and too much partying. I was totally lost and the next 5 years were shit. I was depressed, anxious and in and out of temp jobs and unemployment. I also had some shitty situationships where I didn't value My worth at all. I wish I could go back and give myself a hug.

At 26 I packed up and moved abroad for my dream job with TUI. It was the best thing I ever done. I met amazing new friends, developed a really good work ethic and my confidence grew like never before.

I'm now back in the UK and married with a mediocre but stable job but I do feel sad that I lost those 5 years after uni to mostly unhappiness.

Doing the maths, I must have been about to get pregnant with DC1 which happened in the September. A welcome accident since we weren’t planning on having children for another 2/3 years. We were as poor as church mice but happy (2 years married) and in rough good health.

Lots has happened in the meantime. 6 house moves in 3 different cities, several job changes for both of us, all our parents died (2008/9 was hard), school days finished this June. Teenage years took their toll, some lingering resentments but we honestly tried our best. DC1 launched on a good career, DC2 remains to be seen…

Slow but solid accumulation of wealth, slow decline in health but nothing dramatic. Early retirement for DH and the luxury for me of accepting or refusing work (freelance) so we can enjoy happy times together.

I was preparing to get married for the first time. Wish someone had told me…

Just married to dh in that spring.
Moved into our first home which needed a lot of work done to it.
We didn't have much money, but it was a much more peaceful/less insane time 😔

Halfway through A levels.

Teaching in Tokyo. 26. In my second year there.

I had just uprooted my entire life to be with the man I loved and when I arrived in his town in my furniture van I found out within the first hour that he was not the man he had pretended to be and that he had lied to me about many very huge things. From that moment, in my mind and heart, the relationship was over, but it took me 3 years to extricate myself from the financial entanglements with him.

I had just done my GCSEs about to start 6th form college