11:31 a.m. - 2006-08-23
Dear Younger Self
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
PER THE REQUEST OF KWEEN OF THE QUEEN'S XANGA SITE.......
Here is the challenge:
Writing a letter to your younger self.
What would you say to your younger self? What advice would you give? Would you offer tips for changing a certain situation?
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August 23, 2006
Dear Younger Self:
It has been a long time since I thought about you. I did spend some moments reminising, from time to time, but had not taken a longer time to think about what I might have been able to tell you from my perspective of 41 years later. So now I have some thoughts to give to you.
I don�t think I could have done anything to make your childhood better. It was what it was and you came though it fairly well. You were the big sister and soon learned to take care of your younger sisters. You continue this role even today.
When you fell in love and decided to get married is when I might have offered some suggestions.
Maybe you would have enjoyed living on your own before you left your parents home and got married. You had a job, even though you didn�t make much money. You managed to save $1000 between graduating from secretarial school when you were 18 and getting married when you were a few months shy of 21. Of course, if you had lived on your own; you couldn�t have saved that money so I guess it worked out for the best. With that money, you were able to pay cash for all the furniture you two had in your first apartment.
The two of you had a couple of years alone to be a married couple and have some fun. Maybe one mistake you made was to sell your first house and move to Florida. Of course, your friends gave you the idea that it would be easy to find jobs in Florida. It was easy but the jobs weren�t high paying. You did have a chance to live in the Keys for a few months and you didn�t hurt yourselves too much financially when you returned to your home town that July.
After a couple of years and when you and your husband had stable jobs again, you decided to have a baby. He was born when you were almost 24 years old. Fortunately, your husband was working as a policeman and you were able to stay home with your son until he was 6 years old. You had also purchased a house and had a new car. Even though you didn�t do much outside your family circle; you were all happy and enjoyed your lives together. You lived close to your parents so your son had the advantage of seeing his grandparents nearly every day. I know he treasured those special times.
Once your son started kindergarten, you babysat for a friend�s newborn baby girl. It was fun to take care of a little girl and your son loved playing with her when he got home from school. That lasted about a year. Once your son was in school all day, you decided to go back to work. It would bring in some money and your husband wouldn�t have to work part-time in addition to his full-time job. You were hired by an insurance claims office and started your long career in the insurance industry.
I probably would have suggested you try longer to have another child so your son would have a sibling. Fortunately he enjoyed reading and playing by himself so he wasn�t lonely. He also played outside with the neighborhood children and seemed happy. Now as he has grown older and married, I think he might have liked to have a sibling so his step-children would have cousins to play with. I know you always wants to have grand babies and you never will because your DIL can�t have any more children. But you are blessed with two grand-daughters.
I am proud that you took educational courses and got 3 associate degrees in various insurance fields. I also think your persistence in becoming a claims adjuster was so good for you. You have received acknowledgement for a fine job and I know you have always been proud of your career. I only wish that the company had not been sold and the corporate office stayed the same. I expect you would still be working there if it had not been sold to another insurance company. It is too bad their values were not the same standard as yours are. But working for over 30 years is a great accomplishment.
I am also glad that you and your husband are still together after 41 years. There are not many high school sweethearts who marry and stay together. You two have known each other for 46 years. There are not even a lot of friends who stay in touch that long these days!
Now you have retired and I know you are figuring out how you want to fill your days. I suggest that you take time for yourself and take care of yourself. You do need to get back into shape and exercise. You also need to watch what you eat and get out more. You have a tendancy to stay home and become a hermit. Continue reading and learning about the world. Keep in touch with your friends and make time for them. Spend time with your husband and find ways to have special weekends together. I know you are talking about downsizing your home and perhaps, moving to a different town. You can be checking on the real estate and cost of living in various places. And, next year, you can take a few small weekend trips to those areas to see if they appeal to both of you.
I know you two will continue to be happy together and I hope and wish you both a long, long healthy marriage as you continue to live.
I will be checking in on you from time to time.
Love
Older Me
