Transitioning from 1985

In a couple of days  I begin a new life. Well, sort of. I bring my old life along for the ride, so technically is it a new life or is it a transition?

Change has always been hard for me. I’ve made a zillion mistakes, stupid mistakes, because I have resisted change instead of looking forward to the opportunity for fresh starts and new beginnings. I’m pretty sure that I’m not alone in that.

I ran into someone I knew from high school the other day. I haven’t seen him in 30 years, maybe more. I laughed, to myself, that in some ways time stood still. He knows nothing of who I am, what I’ve become, just as I know nothing of him.

At our chance meeting, we were two kids back in 1985 and the things that we were back then. Btw, my 1985 self needed a lot of work. So this old friend talked to the 1985 version of me, and I spoke with the 1985 version of him, and I wondered how he had evolved while wishing he could know all of the ways I had grown from who he once knew.

I wanted to know the 2018 version and what he’s learned along the way, who has he become. Maybe he didn’t care so much about me, but that didn’t matter. It was a learning moment. For me at least.

For some, I am the person they knew 30 years ago. For him, I was.

I’m so much more than some insecure young girl from 1985. I don’t expect anyone to know that in a random encounter, but it was a reminder for me as well.

Life goes on. As much as I cherish some memories, there are others I know that I want to move on from, just as I know that others want the same.

I live in the town that I grew up in. It wasn’t exactly by choice. The walk down memory lane can include some nostalgia while also embracing growth, my growth, and those I encounter from the past, some I remained close with, some I haven’t seen since writing in yearbooks and promising to never lose touch.

I am about to begin a new life, sort of. If you know me, that makes sense. If you don’t, well, I’d love to get to know the 2018 version of you as well as the baggage, because we all carry it. Some of us carry it in Louis Vuitton, some in garbage bags, some in between, but its there.

However you carry it, know that we all have a story, a long rich story. I’m about to add some chapters. I’m that girl from 1985, but a new version, maybe the 2.0 or even higher.

I’m not afraid of change any longer. In fact, I’m excited for the possibilities. I’m not the same person I was in 1985. Heck, I’m not even the same person I was in 1995 or even early 2018.

We all change. Or at least that’s the hope.

The other hope is that maybe when you read this you will forgive an old grudge, forget some piece of gossip that no longer matters, and recognize that the ways you have evolved, so have the others you may have left behind.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Maybe you love your life as is. Maybe you feel like you could use a few tweaks. Maybe you need a complete do-over. It doesn’t matter. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. (Mo, that’s for you!) Do with it what you want.

Live. Love. Dance. Sing. Write. Make some bank. It doesn’t matter.

I’m beginning a new chapter. So are you. Even if you don’t realize it.

Make it count!