How did an old fart like me become cool?

When my girls were growing up I never wanted to be the "cool mum". I was a little long in the tooth for starters and I was wary of trying too hard. I wanted to be a shelter, a rock, a safe place, boringly predictable. So it came as a big surprise yesterday to be told by my oldest and her fiance on a zoom call that I was indeed, cool.

How had that happened I wondered, as I pulled on the warm nightdress, no longer yearning for the slinky number of youth. How did an old fart like me become cool? As I reflected on their comment and what had changed, I realised I had. In 2020 I had embraced my introvert self and the gift of time lock down offered to be creative.

So as 2020 draws herself to a close and 2021 rolls in, dragging with her the baggage of a pandemic, Brexit and cruelty of hunger and homelessness for millions around the world I am going to carry on being creative.

There will no doubt be the predictable tirades of me yelling at the radio when the PM or JRM or the truly awful NF spout their incompetent babbling. And, I am no less likely to respond with "Oh, another tattoo?" or "Well make a safe choice dear" to my dear daughters but I will keep my eyes peeled and my ears to the ground, not for what is familiar and safe, but for who and what is challenging, shakes up the way I have looked at or understood the world so far. I will seek out the new voices and faces, the ones that offer a fresh way of looking at things and learn from them. I am going to go on an unpredictable creative journey and embrace 2021 as the year I learned to be cool, wherever that wind may take me.

Happy New Year!