Have you ever thought about when exactly you grew? I mean, it’s always happening and we are always aging, but what I mean is: when did we transition from the little us all the way to, well, the “adulty” us now?
Okay, so when I was a kiddo I would often daydream about the future (aside from wanting to be a mermaid), I always wanted to travel the world and make friends in every continent! I recently came to realization that the future that I dreamed of is where I am now. So, how are things going?
Alright, so let me kind of give you this back story. Yesterday, it was an anniversary party for 2 of my old friends (who married each other by the way). There were many many friends at this party. Mostly everyone there has known me since I was about 5-10 years old! (I mean, it was the congregation I grew up in). Anyway, so my two friends are celebrating their anniversary. Suddenly, I see this face. It was one of those moments where my brain goes “ding! I know you…. Err.. Wait, no, stranger… ding! I know you!” Turns out, the “ding!” Was right! It was a childhood friend. Literally someone I hadn’t seen in about a decade. Turns out she’s married and just became a new mommy to a cute mini version of her. Shortly after, my other friend arrives. Now this friend and I were close during our teenage years. She arrives with her husband. It’s a pretty cool reunion with dancing, conversations and even re-enacting an old photo.
So, at one point during this party, I go deep within my brain. Looking around I see all of these girls whom I remember from certain time periods. I saw us when I was 11, choreographing dances to Christina Aguilera songs. I saw me giving one of them a piggy back ride because we used to pretend she was my little sister. I saw us running around outside in the front yard at night after bookstudy (that was held in my house back then). I saw us playing hide and seek and then running inside for a piece of cake or pie during those “goody nights”. I saw us drawing on my old chalk board door (which still exists by the way). So then, I come back to now and, well, they’re all married and one is a mom. And me? Well, I’m about to go on this life-changing need greating trip!
In a way, I felt like I was in that past again, glancing at the future. There goes one friend, pulling her husband to dance. There’s my other friend carrying her baby girl. There, I see another friend sitting next to her husband as she smiles and whispers something into his ear while he’s leaning in to hear what she’s saying. Meanwhile, I’m standing there, probably with this stupid look on my face of amazement thinking “woah! This is the future!?”, taking it all in. I was in disbelief and that is when I asked myself, “when did this happen?” …but then, I remembered everything and realized, “oh yeah! I remember now haha… duh”. *proceeds to take a sip from the cup of lemonade that I am holding and keeps walking*
I’m proud of all of them for sticking to the truth. I was also a bit sad for the childhood friends that no longer stuck around. It sure would have been great to see them all stick with the truth and there at the party as well. Also, true, my path is waaay different from theirs, but my greatest joy is seeing how happy they are! I do not regret going to ASL after high school, then pioneering. I don’t regret the new friends I gained along the way. I do not regret my current life and the plans that are incoming. They all chose to marry, start a family together and serve Jehovah that way. All of these paths bring forth joy, they truly do! They are just different, and that’s totally okay.
Anyway, that is why I feel like people can be time machines. You see people from another era, another version of you, another time, and you can’t help but to go back to where you left off the last time you were together, whether it be 6 months, 1 year, or even a decade. You kind of become that version of you again so that they may recognize and remember you better. So, yes, it was a great mental re-visiting of the past, a great realization and satisfaction for what has happened so far, and joyful anticipation for the next 10 years.
I can’t wait to see what is next! 😄
Releasing Ropes 