Milestones

Just in case you are confused by the title of this entry, it is not about the restaurant at English Bay, Vancouver (although the goat cheese, strawberry, slivered onion and spicy pecan salad is special). Milestone in this entry refers to turning points. While working on my dissertation, I read some books on how to analyze interview data. The sample interviews in the book had elderly respondants trying to identify turning points or milestones in their lives. It got me to thinking about mine... what have mine been... or am I too young to have REAL onese yet? I was thinking that our lives really are just stories that we are writing and milestones are the the signposts that indicate the different sections of the story. I thought I might note some of mine to return to later to see if I still agree that these really were significant points in my life. When I finally turn my hand to fiction, I guess the milestones in the protagonist's life will be more astonishing and interesting than these. And anyway, I am not really sure what the difference between MILESTONES, TURNING POINTS and EPIPHANIES are.

1. finding out that boys cry too... 3rd year of university.
2. finding my voice.... 5th year of university
3. discovering that ethics and morals are not the same thing, are not universally shared, and are possible to renegotiate (standing at a Jizoo shrine devoted to aborted babies somewhere near Yokohama, Japan)
4. experiencing financial freedom (1996 after working in Japan 3 years to pay off debts)
5. discovering a little inner power/beauty (upon achieving all the goals I set for myself for 30th birthday)
6. experiencing my first real loss (my brother - summer 2004) and learning empathy

Don't know what the next one will be...