I have been in touch with a lot of my friends from years past lately. In fact, with the click of a mouse these days you can be in touch with just about everyone. As I communicate with former neighbors, childhood best friends, and people that I used to not be so crazy about, I cannot help but wonder how my life would have been had I taken a different path. I recently was in touch with a mutual friend of my ex-boyfriend and we reminisced about the "good ole days." I started thinking to myself, what about the past attracts us to want to find out how people are doing. My curiousity certainly got me to thinking how much life would have been different if I had married my first boyfriend or even my college sweetheart. How strange! Would I have gone to law school or joined the military? Could I have done all the things I did if I were saddled with kids at an early age? Would life had been better?
I know countless people who wonder this and after being in touch with the past so much recently (with the help of facebook, and technology), I have come face to face with my present and the promise of a great future. It is ironic because while it is truly fun to look back and laugh at silly pics we took in high school and college- the funny hair, the funny clothes, and all the silly styles - it is even more fun to look back and know where I am is truly where I am meant to be. The past, while fun to look back on and laugh is just that - the past. I think that people wonder why and what if and lose sight of what is truly important: The present. Sure, if I had did things differently, I would not be here and things would so different- so very different but unlike Nicolas Cage in THE FAMILY MAN, I prefer to not find out because I am very content with my life and all my accomplishments- especially my family.
So, as we move boxes from the basement to the garage for remodeling, I am content with my memories from high school and college remaining in those boxes. I am content with communicating with good ole friends from the past and reminiscing but I am excited that we can talk about how far we have come and what we have accomplished. I feel lucky to be able to catch up with old friends and find out how everyone did since and even more grateful for how well their lives have turned out and how my path has been so blessed as well. As I hear stories about the past, I am more and more content with the present and that everything happened for this moment -for now. After all, as we look back, we tend to glamorize the past more than it really was. And to help keep things perspective, it is important to remember that if we were meant to be in the could have, should have or would have, we would have chosen that and been there now instead of where we are. There is a reason why we chose a different path or were thrust by the powers to be to where we are now. The past is fun but the present is even better...
