If you'd asked me what I wanted to be...

If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I was 15, I’d have said… “Suzi Quatro”. A small tattooed wild-cat girl leading an all-male rock band. I mainly wanted to be her for the all-in-one leathers and the bass guitar. For daring to act and look a way that was not considered suitable or politically correct for a woman of the seventies.

If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I was 25, I’d have said… “anything but what I am now”. A deputy catering manager in a geriatric hospital. Waking up every morning with a feeling of dread in my heart at the thought of the day ahead. But the mortgage had to be paid. So that was that!

If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I was 30, I’d have said… “oh I’m pretty happy being a PA”. And in some ways, I was. But I was half-way through an Open University English degree, so I must have had an inkling that there could be something else around the corner.

If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I was 35, I’d have said… “I’ve found my niche at last”. A marketer in a global drinks company. I loved the job. I loved the people. And I was pretty enamoured of all that heavily discounted booze. But then I got made redundant.

If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I was 40, I’d have said… “well, I’m a freelance writer and I’d kind of like to make it work. But I’m not sure if I’ll ever get enough clients”.

And now I’m 60. And you have asked me what I want to be (at last). I’m a freelance writer. And I wake up every morning thinking… “this is what I want to be”.