Write every Friday for Five Minutes Flat on a word prompt.
Today OPPORTUNITY
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OPPORTUNITY
Very early in life, I learnt that some opportunities were handed to you and then you quickly had to fend for yourself and create your own opportunities. They rarely fall from the sky.
Your daily actions and the way you behave with others open up many new adventures which all prove to be opportunities to gain experience and better yourself.
The opportunities you take and the ones you miss tell the story of who you are. There is nothing to regret. The paths you choose paint the pictures of your journey. Light and darkness may alternate but every milestone helps to build the foundations of your character, being and life.
(the five minites are up !)
The opportunities I was handed at birth : being a girl, having dual nationality (Franco-British).
Then I was given the opportunity to spend my early childhood in New York, learn to read, learn to play, to ride a bicycle, to ice-skate, to roller-skate, to sledge, to enjoy the snow and cold weather.
To enjoy spring, Christmas, Easter, Halloween. To go to kindergarden, to learn to dance, to be read to, to participate in children stories afternoons.
The opportunity to move to Paris, go to an International School, live in the country, find new friends, learn to speak French, German and Russian. Travel to Italy with my class, learn about the Renaissance and the history of both Venice and Florence, travel to Germany. To England, to Sweden, Denmark, Yougoslavia with my parents. To the seaside, the mountains in France. Learn to ski (down-slope and cross-country), continue with ice-skating and dancing.
The opportunity to learn to sing, to play the recorder, to participate in the making of a record, to sing at the Russian Embassy in Paris. To learn, in school, about Contemporary World History up to 1979 and the fall of the Shah in Iran.
The opportunities I made for myself : consolidating friendships, cultivating my curiosity, writing, travelling on my own. Studying in Lille and Bath, working in Africa, working in the sea-spa business, becoming a language teacher and living in Barcelona, travelling to Poland, la Réunion, Brazil, moving to Toulouse.
Having children, working in Language Training for businesses, taking up English Literature and History studies. Enrolling in Creative Writing courses, learning new languages (Spanish and Japanese), signing-up for Shakespeare seminars in Stratford-upon-Avon and re-discovering the Bard.
Showing my children the world, teaching them both English and French and travelling with them through both countries.
Discovering new horizons: the Netherlands, Belgium, Budapest, Rome, Portugal, Turkey, South Africa, The United States. Visiting museums and expositions. Acting and directing in amateur theatrics, singing in a choir. Playing tennis, learning to play golf. Practicing yoga, do-in and pilates.
Taking time to work as a volunteer for environmental organisations, health and children. Practicing what I preach.
Living with love in my head and heart. Leaving people behind : those who only see darkness and hate.
©susanbauryrouchard
Some music I have loved listening too since I was about 10.
Ain't Nobody but me, album Crisis, What Crisis ! by Supertramp go here
Two of Us go here extract of Melancholia by Lars Von Triers
Give a little Bit go here
It's Raining again go here video with Brazilian subtitles (Portuguese)
Crime of the Century go here
They really understood everything , had it all figured out in the 70's. Their words shaped my ideas and life.
An appropriate song by Cat Stevens, If you want to sing out, sing out go here video, Extract from the film Harold and Maude.
Photo I took in Alum Chine Playground, Bournemouth, July 2006.
Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment, disagree, argue, share your experiences and I will be sure to reply.
Have a nice Five Minute Friday, and I'll see you next week and on your own blogs.
Steady rain here in Toulouse. I wanted to go and play golf this morning: the first opportunity in months...Oh! Well, I can only chant 'Rain, rain go away, come again another day' .