I was a very late baby born to father 54 and mother 40 (1965) - I look at pictures of me aged 18 and my mother aged 58 and she is old, elegant and beautiful, but old. I’m 58 and (according to my 30 something nieces) look more their age…. Perhaps it was growing up during WWII and rationing that aged people? Sadly Poppa died when I was 23 (he was 76) and Muvva at 67 so I’ve lived longer without them than with them…. They’d probably throw their hands up in despair at my life (boring housewife with lots of delicious wines and a house in Provence) but secretly envy me…
I wake up every day and think of something joyful - even something as simple as my cat purring next to me or the promise of a delicious bottle of Bon Remede Secret de Vincent!
Also all that good food you eat - lots of variety - could be part of the picture too Fiona. I almost fell off my chair when you announced you are 75. What a role model!!!
Happy birthday fiona I know exactly what you mean. Thank you for putting it so eloquently. I am not in my 70s yet but next year I will be… My husband died just before the Covid lockdown. He had been ill for a very short while. It was a shock as we had been having such a brilliant time in our 60s working together having been married for over 40 years and like you, I’d never lived alone in my adult life, it was a very strange time indeed I had been running my own business with him. He had his own career as well. We were having a lovely time. Children were grown and comfortable in their chosen lifestyles. I had always worked and earned my own way suddenly with lockdown, there was nothing to do nowhere to go, no one to see and I was bereaved at the same time , I realised I had to get on with things and took up a job which I had longed to do but it’s not when you can do as a married wife to a man who you love dearly subsequently things have improved. I spent a huge amount of time on my own, but like you when I am working, it’s with a much younger generation who make me feel quite comfortable , so I look forward to the next 10 years hopefully with good health like yourself fingers crossed. Thank you for writing your thoughts down so well loved every word XX
Happy Birthday, Fiona! I was friends with people in their sixties, seventies, even eighties, in my mid-teens and twenties, and it was such a great thing. Now I'm in my fifties, I have freinds in their eighties and nineties, and I do love getting to know twenty and thirty-somethings, so thank you for encouraging people to reach out across the age divide! That said, and while I am very pleased you're going strong, thanks for using the word "lucky". After living in America for forty years, including in a small town in the rural South that was a food desert (and likely had all sorts of nasty stuff in the air) I'm too aware that mileage rates vary, a lot, and increasingly so. I watch the NHS's struggles and the affordability crisis from across the pond with great concern.
Happy Birthday. What a great article. I'm 10 years younger, but still feel I have a lot to prove to myself that I can do. I did once have a very strange encounter with my estranged father many years ago. I bumped into him on a ferry from Calais to the UK, He was 70 and I was 21, and we were both looking ahead to our futures, he to find a publisher for his short stories, me to start my life's career. I learned then that nothing changes with age as long as we keep carrying on and looking forward.
I loved this very much and happy birthday! I'm soon to be 46 and one of my dearest friends also just turned 75. I feel very grateful to have her in my life, and in agreement about having friends of all ages, they are enriching ones. x
It's all that life-giving Pet Nat 😉. I absolutely love this, Fiona! You are 100% inspiring to me, and it's no wonder you don't feel 'your age' with these amazing attitudes, curiosity, outlook and approach. I love having friends in their 50s, 60s and 70s and feel really nourished by the chats I have with them. I've been lucky to create many more of these relationships since moving out of London, weirdly. We are all so lucky to have you. x
Hello Fiona, since my daughter subscribed me to you, you looking so happy & amazing at 75 gave me a little kick & I'm in Estephona Spain 🇪🇸 finding the new me! So thank you. Sincerely appreciated the words about finding the new me! Bless luv GG x
I wouldn’t have thought we shared the same age Fiona! You seemed most youthful on the next table at Littlefrench last Tuesday! What was the wine you decided on if you feel able to share it?
On aging I don’t feel it too much, and agree that the children and grandchildren keep us young even if they run us ragged sometimes. Enjoyed your interesting piece on Middle Eastern wines today - many thanks for your excellent articles
We once went to an Oldie lunch at which the 80+ year old Betsy Blair (one of Gene Kelly's wives) was a speaker. She was vibrant, bright, articulate and funny. An audience member asked her what was the secret of her youthful demeanour. She replied, “Stay interested in things other than yourself". That seems to be exactly what the lively Fiona Beckett is doing. Brava!
Firstly happy belated birthday wishes 🍾🥂 you look lovely vibrant & happy! I agree how our parents looked so much older than we do. We try to live differently not so uptight. I'm having to start again, I'm 64 & a bit! On a serious note I haven't recovered from my loss of husband & younger brother dying & it's not that long since their laughter gave so much happiness. I coped & was so strong until I wasn't strong. But, after reading about you & your life now I'm trying hard to be stronger & laugh again. So I'm travelling to Estephona Spain 🇪🇸 with my grown up children & I'm taking you with me, I'm going to read about your journey & maybe one day write about mine. But for now enjoy you, if okay? Have a great day from GG
I am 72 and I must say it’s hard to know what ones mother thought, wanted and felt if she didn’t share much. Mine shared some pretty personal stuff with me. She wanted me to be well educated in case I should end up on my own. I didn’t get then. She learned to swim at fifty. Got her grade 11 and 12 after she retired at 63. I was not the easiest of daughters to deal with.
As you suggested our parents lived in a different time but I think it matured them quickly. It took me forever to grow up. Now I think I get my parents more then ever.
I take aging as it comes to me. Not always easy but that gives me a certain sense of peace. I can feel my age at times, needing a nap here and there. I wake up and thank God I am here, able to have another breakfast with my husband of 51 years That is a gift. I have been truly blessed with good health so far. I don’t necessarily understand life better but I take it one day at a time. My goal now is to get counseling to help me grow.
I was a very late baby born to father 54 and mother 40 (1965) - I look at pictures of me aged 18 and my mother aged 58 and she is old, elegant and beautiful, but old. I’m 58 and (according to my 30 something nieces) look more their age…. Perhaps it was growing up during WWII and rationing that aged people? Sadly Poppa died when I was 23 (he was 76) and Muvva at 67 so I’ve lived longer without them than with them…. They’d probably throw their hands up in despair at my life (boring housewife with lots of delicious wines and a house in Provence) but secretly envy me…
I wake up every day and think of something joyful - even something as simple as my cat purring next to me or the promise of a delicious bottle of Bon Remede Secret de Vincent!
Also all that good food you eat - lots of variety - could be part of the picture too Fiona. I almost fell off my chair when you announced you are 75. What a role model!!!
Happy birthday fiona I know exactly what you mean. Thank you for putting it so eloquently. I am not in my 70s yet but next year I will be… My husband died just before the Covid lockdown. He had been ill for a very short while. It was a shock as we had been having such a brilliant time in our 60s working together having been married for over 40 years and like you, I’d never lived alone in my adult life, it was a very strange time indeed I had been running my own business with him. He had his own career as well. We were having a lovely time. Children were grown and comfortable in their chosen lifestyles. I had always worked and earned my own way suddenly with lockdown, there was nothing to do nowhere to go, no one to see and I was bereaved at the same time , I realised I had to get on with things and took up a job which I had longed to do but it’s not when you can do as a married wife to a man who you love dearly subsequently things have improved. I spent a huge amount of time on my own, but like you when I am working, it’s with a much younger generation who make me feel quite comfortable , so I look forward to the next 10 years hopefully with good health like yourself fingers crossed. Thank you for writing your thoughts down so well loved every word XX
Happy Birthday, Fiona! I was friends with people in their sixties, seventies, even eighties, in my mid-teens and twenties, and it was such a great thing. Now I'm in my fifties, I have freinds in their eighties and nineties, and I do love getting to know twenty and thirty-somethings, so thank you for encouraging people to reach out across the age divide! That said, and while I am very pleased you're going strong, thanks for using the word "lucky". After living in America for forty years, including in a small town in the rural South that was a food desert (and likely had all sorts of nasty stuff in the air) I'm too aware that mileage rates vary, a lot, and increasingly so. I watch the NHS's struggles and the affordability crisis from across the pond with great concern.
Happy Birthday. What a great article. I'm 10 years younger, but still feel I have a lot to prove to myself that I can do. I did once have a very strange encounter with my estranged father many years ago. I bumped into him on a ferry from Calais to the UK, He was 70 and I was 21, and we were both looking ahead to our futures, he to find a publisher for his short stories, me to start my life's career. I learned then that nothing changes with age as long as we keep carrying on and looking forward.
If you can't find a word, pop the general parameters into Google. Magic.
Loved this Fiona x
I loved this very much and happy birthday! I'm soon to be 46 and one of my dearest friends also just turned 75. I feel very grateful to have her in my life, and in agreement about having friends of all ages, they are enriching ones. x
It's all that life-giving Pet Nat 😉. I absolutely love this, Fiona! You are 100% inspiring to me, and it's no wonder you don't feel 'your age' with these amazing attitudes, curiosity, outlook and approach. I love having friends in their 50s, 60s and 70s and feel really nourished by the chats I have with them. I've been lucky to create many more of these relationships since moving out of London, weirdly. We are all so lucky to have you. x
Love this, Fiona!
Thanks for your reply - I wouldn’t have wanted to intrude on your evening Fiona, and we were all having fun!
Especially interesting cider piece today as I’m coeliac so it’s my go-to daytime and cricket match tipple, but not at 7+ %!
I’ll give some of your list a try though.
Hello Fiona, since my daughter subscribed me to you, you looking so happy & amazing at 75 gave me a little kick & I'm in Estephona Spain 🇪🇸 finding the new me! So thank you. Sincerely appreciated the words about finding the new me! Bless luv GG x
I wouldn’t have thought we shared the same age Fiona! You seemed most youthful on the next table at Littlefrench last Tuesday! What was the wine you decided on if you feel able to share it?
On aging I don’t feel it too much, and agree that the children and grandchildren keep us young even if they run us ragged sometimes. Enjoyed your interesting piece on Middle Eastern wines today - many thanks for your excellent articles
We once went to an Oldie lunch at which the 80+ year old Betsy Blair (one of Gene Kelly's wives) was a speaker. She was vibrant, bright, articulate and funny. An audience member asked her what was the secret of her youthful demeanour. She replied, “Stay interested in things other than yourself". That seems to be exactly what the lively Fiona Beckett is doing. Brava!
Firstly happy belated birthday wishes 🍾🥂 you look lovely vibrant & happy! I agree how our parents looked so much older than we do. We try to live differently not so uptight. I'm having to start again, I'm 64 & a bit! On a serious note I haven't recovered from my loss of husband & younger brother dying & it's not that long since their laughter gave so much happiness. I coped & was so strong until I wasn't strong. But, after reading about you & your life now I'm trying hard to be stronger & laugh again. So I'm travelling to Estephona Spain 🇪🇸 with my grown up children & I'm taking you with me, I'm going to read about your journey & maybe one day write about mine. But for now enjoy you, if okay? Have a great day from GG
I am 72 and I must say it’s hard to know what ones mother thought, wanted and felt if she didn’t share much. Mine shared some pretty personal stuff with me. She wanted me to be well educated in case I should end up on my own. I didn’t get then. She learned to swim at fifty. Got her grade 11 and 12 after she retired at 63. I was not the easiest of daughters to deal with.
As you suggested our parents lived in a different time but I think it matured them quickly. It took me forever to grow up. Now I think I get my parents more then ever.
I take aging as it comes to me. Not always easy but that gives me a certain sense of peace. I can feel my age at times, needing a nap here and there. I wake up and thank God I am here, able to have another breakfast with my husband of 51 years That is a gift. I have been truly blessed with good health so far. I don’t necessarily understand life better but I take it one day at a time. My goal now is to get counseling to help me grow.