Not having to pretend to like nightclubs
Not having to pretend to like festivals
Not giving a shit about what anyone things of the way you look, act or dress
Watching a person you’ve created out of your body become an actual grown-up that people in the world take seriously
Getting to know your children
Knowing your partner so well you remember each other’s memories
Farmer’s Markets
Disposable income, spent selflessly
Thinking about people other than yourself
No one is that fit anymore, not even fit people
Comfortable trainers
Cuddly cardigans
Walking holidays
Not having to know cool/new music
Not using cool words
Realising that we’re all going to die and nothing matters
No FOMO
The National Trust
Tea and Scones
Knowing that the best party is the party that finishes by 10
Owning expensive things that just work
Getting so old that your music/clothes/politics becomes cool again
Having space for your books and clothes that aren’t your bed/the floor
Long chilly walks on the weekend
Phasing out those wrong’un friends
Living in a world governed by the democratic principles of ‘are they nice?’
Coffee brought to your seat in cinemas
Long mornings in bed with crackly newspapers and wriggly kids
Getting right into boiled eggs
Understanding the true pleasures of gardening
Absolutely owning your finances
Not doing all the shit jobs at work
Intergenerational socialising/fun
Deep, gentle love that warms you like the April sun on your face
Sitting on benches and looking at things
Stroking away young tears and knowing it’ll all be ok
Utility dressing
Wobbly bits on your body
Being invisible to leering eyes
Holding a tiny hand in your palm
Wearing long sleeves
Elegant one-piece swimsuits
Having a make-up routine that hasn’t changed in 15 years and takes 12 minutes start-to-finish
Becoming un-embarrassable
Having the balls to complain in restaurants
Knowing that you’re finally a safe place from monsters under the bed
Hands becoming sinewy, skilled and sure
Sturdy underwear that doesn’t cut into your flesh like a cheese-wire
Seeing Christmas through young eyes again
Being in charge of awesome decisions like Friday night bedtimes and ‘do we get a puppy’
Being chief stockist and gatekeeper of the ‘special snack drawer’
Being qualified to give advice, because life teaches you to live it
‘Kids just say the funniest things’ moments
Smelling of soap rather than grapefruit sex
Having smells and songs that can transport you back 20 years
Finally being grateful that you didn’t peak in secondary school
Cultivating true pleasures that don’t center on romantic attention
Indulging small brand preferences even when they’re more expensive
Always getting the front seat in the car
Having ‘artistic license’ with events of the past
No long night buses home from going out
Boozy dinner parties with the kids upstairs
Written by Matilda Curtis and Jess Bird
Illustrated by Jess Bird