The next decade

I headed to a late breakfast at my favorite place and was sat at the bar next to these two bubbly girls. From their conversations I gathered they were  heading into the end of their senior year of high school. They talked about turning 18 and how everything else is down hill after that and I couldn't help but laugh. They said turning 19 seemed pointless and they wished they could skip straight to 21. (I feel a little of the same way about turning 29 soon...it seems a little pointless but it sounds old!)  I wanted to interject and say as much as I believed that when I was your age, the best is yet to come. 

There is so much to explore, do, see, believe and become. The next decade of your life will change, challenge and stretch you. You will have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. You will go on adventures that will take you places you never imagined. 

Please don't think of the next decade as heading down hill because it will ultimately design and shape who you will become. Embrace the challenges, the moments, the memories. 

Don't be afraid to be yourself. Stand up for what you believe in. Believe it with all your heart. Love God. Trust the process. Practice patience and enjoy the ride. 

The whole conversation made me think about my next decade. Next year I turn 30 and start another decade- a chance to make mistakes, memories, love with everything I have, and be comfortable with who I have become. But I think more then anything I'm excited for everything I haven't experienced yet, and I truly feel the best is yet to come. 

A best friend

I sent a crazy text message in the wee hours of the morning today and instead of a text message back, I received a phone call. 

Probably one of the best hours of my life lately spent talking about relationships, life, love, family, and parenting. 

We've been friends for almost 25 years and still to this day can talk for hours on end. The older I get the more I cherish that. 

We joked as we got off the phone that it was a productive conversation. That in the midst of an hour of time in the wee hours of Wednesday morning we hashed out life. We laughed about missed opportunities, talked about challenges and reminisced.

It reminded me so very much of the talks we would have late into the night during our many sleepovers growing up. The best plans came from those sleep deprived, delerious moments of time when life seemed to stretch out endlessly before us. We planned, we plotted, we laughed and we cried. 

Now all these years later as we were forced to end the conversation for the attempt to get a good night sleep before the demands of adulthood I would offer up some sound advice to the teenage versions of ourselves: 

1. You are going to make mistakes- embrace them, celebrate them but most of all learn from them. They will mold and shape the woman you want to become. 

2. Love those around you with everything you've got- life changes, priorities change and in the blink of an eye everything is different. Because of that I encourage you to say I love you, often and with meaning. Do things for people to let them know you care. Remind them that they are not alone. 

3. Show yourself grace- life can be hard, life can be tough, and it can make you crazy if you let it. Learn to show yourself grace in the moments you least deserve it because those are the moments in which you need it the most. 

4. Even the best laid plans have detours- everything you've planned for the future might look completely different then today- but that's the beauty of life. You never know where the fork in the road might take you but have enough courage to take it anyway.

❤️