I spent lots of time when I was away reflecting about the many decades I have been on this planet (let’s say a lot more than 50 years) – what I had achieved in this time and what things had changed.
With everyone around the dining room table for family games, I started thinking about my mum and how she grew up. I looked at how different my upbringing was to hers. She experienced a strict, Catholic upbringing with working-class parents, growing up in Manchester until she ran away at 16 when she became pregnant with me. She subsequently lived a Bohemian hippie lifestyle. Our lives were unconventional and inconsistent – travelling through Europe, living on a bus with my crazy artist father David Vaughan.
When I grew up my childhood experiences led me to pine for something more solid and I craved security. I got this when I married the musician Gary Kemp, who was a hugely steady and supportive influence, and gave me the feeling of the safety I wanted and needed. He was so poetic and generous, and he took me all over the world. It really was a time made up of fairy tales. I stopped being a young girl around town sipping cocktails at the Café de Paris – I was a wife and a young mum and was with somebody who adored me.
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I tried to be the best mother I could be but I was suffering from postnatal depression. I tried to provide some calm and consistency for my children. I loved the school runs when we would all be together singing and telling jokes. I still miss them today. I would always make sure I was home by 5pm from work so I could make my infamous teas or dinner where it was like the Mad Hatter’s tea party on our big dining room table – there would be my kids plus their friends and my friends and any waifs and strays would be welcome. We would stuff our faces with veggie sausages and hummus and yummy veggie summer rolls.
What seems different today is there are so many new terms for doing things whilst parenting, as information comes from social media and TikTok. I sometimes have no idea what they are talking about when they say “let’s do tummy time” or “time for a ‘contact nap’”. There’s so much more information out there and lots more collated specialist knowledge on the babies’ growth and development, so they have a lot more structure. I think my generation just threw it all together and hoped for the best. My mother was even more unstructured, but this was probably a rebellion against her stricter parents.
As I look at my granddaughter Daya, I see a reflection of every generation before her, reminding me of the enduring bond that ties us together. On holiday my favorite moments were in the morning when I would choose a lively playlist and place her gently on my bed and show her how her glamma can throw some moves dancing like a mad woman around the room. The moment we lock eyes and have a giggle together with each over the littlest of things, it feels more important and bigger than anything else in the world.
This week I have been…
Reading… I have been reading the Bhagavad Gita, a core Hindu text, and listening to it on Audible – every night at the same time. That way I can really absorb all the information thoroughly.
I’m fascinated with the old ancient Yogi scriptures. Another favourite of mine is Yoga Sutras by Patanjali – he is an ancient sage considered the father of yoga, and his sutras outline yoga philosophies and practises. These ancient scriptures can also really support you in modern living – by encouraging you to be kind and compassionate to yourself, to other humans, and of course to animals.
Though they were written approximately 5,000 years ago, they can really bring me a sense of calm and well-being – and provide me some answers when needed.
Celebrating… It’s always difficult to work out what to do when there’s a landmark birthday (so much pressure). I really didn’t want to have a big party because they can be overwhelming and you never get an opportunity to speak to anybody – you’re literally just saying hello and bye (and there’s so much small talk).
So I chose to do a spa day with some of my girlfriends. We did it at Cliveden – a country house hotel in Buckinghamshire, where we had facials and massages plus a dip in the pool, then the most amazing lunch at the Astor Grill. Then the finale was a river cruise down the Thames on their wonderful little wooden boat…
I had an amazing Twiggy vegan birthday cake in honour of the documentary about Twiggy I just made with the BBC. We drank it with champagne and English breakfast tea.
After a few weeks of celebrations I’m ready to go back to work.
Fasting… I have spent a lot of time recently doing juicing and fasting – so I am at what I call my ultimate health level. I like to do this a few times a year so my body has time to renew and recover. Sometimes I do this at a wellness centre called Amchara which is in Gozo, an island in the Mediterranean Sea – but this time I did it in Turkey.I like to combine this with yoga and meditation – it is all part of my jivamukti study, a practise which helps you to attain spiritual enlightenment.
Sadie’s latest documentary Twiggy will be screened on the BBC in September
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