"Keep your eye on the prize". Did you and have you won it? Do you still have a prize you'd like to win or are your aspirations behind you?

This may shock you or it might not. I've never really had any goals. Very vaguely I figgered I'd end up married with kids. My formal education stopped at junior college where I got an Associate Arts degree in Liberal Arts. I expected I'd be a secretary. I really had no specific aspirations. The one thing was a fantasy that if I were wealthy I'd spend my life going to schools universities and take classes in everything. See nothing serious. Over time I literally fell into accounting by realizing that when I was needed to help out in Accounting I LOVED IT. So I took night school classes in Accounting. Also Economics and Logic. I ended my work life as an Internal Auditor. Who knew?  I had a miscarriage during my first marriage. I had my son with my second husband. I should have given my son a sibling but truly I was not the maternal type and did not YEARN to be a mom. I was delighted with my son of course but had no desire for more. I think my life has really been based on happenstance good luck and serendipity. The best job I ever had fell into my lap. I did not have to seek it. A gal with whom I'd worked recommended me to a headhunter she knew and I went for the interview! Every job I'd get was better than the one before but it wasn't really more money or a title I was after. I just wanted a job where I could enjoy what I was doing. Period. Maybe I'm the tumbleweed on which I have looked down. I went the way of the wind and it always seemed to work out very well or me. I do believe in luck because I have had more than my share of it. I can tell you this for sure. Though my son is a great joy to me I could have had a very happy life without being a mom. I was on track for that. I had him when I was 28. Kinda old to be a first-time mom back in the day. You know how some women adore having a baby plopped into their arms? Not me! I thought they were very cute of course but beyond that? No comment. Geez true confessions. Why I don't know. Well you're here and we're friends and I guess I needed to get that out. Hope it isn't TMI. Thank you for your reply L! :) This post was edited by RosieG at July 12, 2020 9:50 AM MDT

Not too much info. :)  I didn't really have goals other than to get a good job so I could eventually support myself if marriage was not in the cards.  Like you, I fell into my first law office job being recommended by a friend who was working in one.  Got that one and moved on to others from there so I could make more money.  Back then, legal secretaries had much more varied duties and responsibilities and I was able to use my brain to solve problems and do what a paralegal does today.  Finally, when I found the job I'm on now, I knew I had found my "home."  I'm working with my boss for more then 29 years and I always felt that this would be the job from which I would retire.  I don't know what kind of a mom I would have been - a disciplinarian, I suspect.  I am close with my nieces and nephews and watched them all grow up from the very beginning which in some ways was like being a mom without the responsibilities.  I guess that's why I never really felt that I missed out on much when it came to children.  Now, I'm very happy as I am and, after being single for so many years, I'm not sure how well I would adjust to having someone else around 24/7.  I've traveled, seen some of the world, loved and been loved and enjoyed my life.  I know there are millions of people who would trade places with me in a heartbeat.

You know what I think my friend? Of course you do but well I'm going to say it anyway. I think a successful life...a life well-lived...is the one where you focus on all you've been privileged to experience and not focus on what "might have been" since you never can know how "what might have been" would have turned out. You know how YOUR life turned out and with that you are content. I think there is no key to success more important that. I count my blessings daily. Could there be more of them? Sure. We could live in a home we own at the beach. But that would be beyond on our means. All things considered we have done very well. We have health and loved ones and a secure roof over our heads. We don't really WANT for anything that is essential. We have all of that. I do worry about what the monstrous aberration in the white house is doing to our country and how badly he will have damaged it. Beyond repair? I hope not. We (Jim and I) won't be here in later decades which is when we will find out the trump legacy. Will there be more like him voted in? Is he the new cynosure? If it were not for Jim I expect I'd be living near my sister or possibly with them. My brother-in-law and I have never had a cross word between us. I adore him. When we first me I put him through a THIRD DEGREE you would not believe. My sister was in her 30's mind you. He took it like a gentleman and was polite and kind. Later on as I got to know him very well I can see that being on the bad side of him would not have been pleasant. He has very strong opinions and he does not suffer fools. Fortunately we agree on almost everything! So as I said we've been very lucky. Carol and Terry adore Jim too. Today is Terry's 82nd birthday and we always call and SING "Happy Birthday" to one another on our birthdays. Good people. Good friends. Kind hearts. I know you have that too with your sisters. Not all at the same level but that's not a problem. So I guess your plans to relocate to Pennsylvania are on HOLD for awhile. But it is a very nice thing to have in your future. Thank you for your reply L! :) Oh FYI my sis is currently 75 and her birthday is December 15 when she turn 76! So you and she are the same age! This post was edited by RosieG at July 12, 2020 1:00 PM MDT

You're absolutely right.  Someone who always is looking at what others have that they don't will not be a happy person.  However, it may spur them to work a little harder to achieve the same goals and that's not a bad thing.  I get along with my brothers-in-law, but I'm not sure I'd want to live with them.  Yes, my PA plans are on hold for now until this virus let's go of us.  I turn 75 in September, so your sis is a little older than me.