Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Sometimes I think I am all growed up and then someone comes into my house and tells me its like walking into a 16 year olds bedroom..... rude!

To be fair, it wasn't meant in a horrible way and its more true than I care to admit, but it got me to thinking. I am 47 this year, (say it quick and it isn't so bad). Maybe there is a small part of me that is clinging desperately on to my childhood because I really don't want to admit I am not a spring chicken anymore.

The question is, is that really such a bad thing?

Honest answer, I don't know - but what I do know is that no matter how old we are - us girls just really wanna have fun, and being a woman of a certain age, sometimes that feels like its not allowed!

I was incredibly lucky to have a fab childhood. We didn't have a huge amount when it came to money or 'stuff'. There were a lot of hand-me-downs and jumble sale type bits but what we did have in spades was laughter, memory making and heaps of fun.

You see, I think I get my need to be a big kid at times from my dad. Once he realised that martial law wasn't the way to raise four completely feral kids and he started to really relax, he became this huge ball of energy and vibrance that could fill a room. I do believe that some of that presence was a symptom of small man syndrome - sorry dad!

At 5ft 4 inches and 3/4's, (the 3/4's is very important), he may not be the tallest person in the room but he was, and continues still to be, the biggest man in my life!

My mum, bless her heart, had to be the grown up a lot of the time because my dad worked away a lot, but on those occasions where she could relax and let out her mischievous side, she was probably the biggest kid of us all!

She would be the one dancing outside the City Hall in Newcastle as we walked past because Tom Jones was playing.

She would be the one telling us stories about the upside down man in the tree at Jesmond Dene who was in fact an evil wizard that had been trapped there.

No word of a lie musers!

There is an upside down man in a tree there, and the stories not only gave us hours of fun as kids, but they also allowed me to take my kids on epic adventures somewhere that cost nothing but the time to get there.

Obviously I adapted the legends a little and souped it up because, as a writer of the highest order, (let me just dust off my shoulders), that is just what I do.

By the time I was done with the evil wizard, there were fairies, unicorns, elves, dragons and precarious cliffs to walk along with crocodiles waiting below for someone to fall to their death...... the narratives were endless!

That sense of fun and adventure was echoed in the movies we watched as we grew up.

Legend, Krull, Princess Bride, Dark Crystal, Flight of Dragons, Labyrinth, The Neverending Story..... I could go on and on.

Always fantasy, always good fighting evil and so many unbelivable worlds that you could disappear and get lost in.

I still consider some of those movies my go to movies now as an adult. When the world seems a little dark and my way feels lost, I hearken back to those movies because they bring me home.

They remind me that no matter what gets thrown at you, if you just look inside, you can take on anything. You just have to believe in yourself and everything that you are and have faith that it will all come good if you just follow your heart.

Between adventures in parks and movies with epic creatures and stories of triumph over evil, I was also a reader. My head was always in a book, usually some type of fantasy. I am a sucker for a dragon!

You see, the beauty of a book is that when you open those pages and you read those first few lines, you are transported into a whole other existence.

Between the pages of a book I have battled monsters, ridden dragons, fallen in love and hidden from killers. I have experienced love and loss and laughed out loud until I cried.

I have had epic jouneys through mountains and valleys and bravely fought shoulder to shoulder with companions - some of whom didn't survive but whose contribution to the story will never, ever be forgotten. My heart broke when people were lost.

All these people became friends, carrying me through some incredibly difficult times and reminding me that no matter how hard things may seem, it is always darkest before the dawn.

My worlds are endless within the pages of books and my experiences have been, and continue to be, legion.

You see, fun isn't always an external thing. Sometimes its quiet, discreet and intimate. The pages of a book are the opportunity to journey to another life in a way that only you will ever experience, and that can change your whole outlook on life. Even in fantasy there is so much to be learned.

Tenacity, determination, unshakeable commitment to what you believe in, and a lust for life that even in the most difficult times is never lost!

Life is but a moment, fleeting and precious in the sands of time - gathering speed and moving so much quicker than any of us would like. The possibilities are endless if we only dare to step outside what makes us comfortable and experience the incredible worlds that are out there for the taking.

That, believe it or not starts with fun. It starts with creativity. It starts with the ability to think outside of the box and refuse to believe that we are the sum of what we appear to be.

You are so much more than that. I am so much more than that.

Next time someone suggests something you think you're too old for, instead of saying no but secretly wishing you had said yes - do it.

Play the dinosaur golf . Go cold water swimming. Look for shapes in the clouds. Tell the stories of the fairies and elves living in the woods that you visit to your kids. Take your shoes off and feel the earth cold and damp beneath your feet. Paddle in the sea in the middle of January. Bury your head in an epic adventure that opens up your world.

Live, live again and then live somemore because the only regrets you will ever have in life are the things you didn't do.

The fun and growth is right there for the taking if you are just brave enough to try!

Have faith in who you are musers and grab for everything that you can be.

Until next time.........